FOR a game to be postponed less than two hours before kick-off is tolerable in very rare doses.

But after the Stockport County debacle of last season, when the Edgeley Park surface was quite literally not fit enough for a game of rugby, the fact Town’s game at Exeter suffered a similar fate just 14 short months is hard to take.

For 300 fans, a half-day off work, a long drive and a sizeable financial outlay were rewarded only by a bag of fish and chips – and even they would have tasted somewhat bitter as the band of disgruntled supporters began their trip back to Swindon an hour before the scheduled kick-off.

And Robins goalkeeper David Lucas shared in their frustration, but said the right decision had been reached in the end by managers and officials.

“We got done exactly the same at Stockport last year. It was the same thought of thing – we found out when we arrived at the ground so it’s annoying,” he said.

“It is the right decision, but why couldn’t it have been made at dinner time?

“It’s horrible, but from a personal point of view I would not want to play on that.”

Underfoot, the turf at one goalmouth and along one touchline was more slush than lush, and although a large portion of the playing surface was suitable, the potential danger to both sets of players was too great a risk for referee David Coote to take.

Lucas agreed, insisting serious harm could have been done if the game was forced to go ahead.

“You wouldn’t be able to push off or react to anything. And plus, what happens if the ball rolls into the mud, gets stopped, two players go for it? You could end up with broken legs,” he said.

“I think there’s a slight slope so one end most of the water collects but it is disappointing, because apart from the goalmouth the rest looks pretty decent.

“If you went on percentage terms I think 80 per cent of the pitch is playable, but I walked on there, there’s still water underneath and it would only take a shower to bring that out as well.”

The late postponement has, both metaphorically and literally, dampened the buzz around the County Ground in the early part of the week.

But Lucas is confident the players can take the positive vibe through training into the visit of Carlisle United on Saturday, and he has urged those fans who were robbed of action in midweek to come out in force this weekend.

“We’ll have to take the good feeling we had after Saturday’s game into the weekend,” he said.

“We’ll just have to take the frustration out in training over the next couple of days and to be fair there’s no better place to show a good performance than at home on Saturday.

“Hopefully the fans will come out and cheer us on.”