Corsham Town P-P Deal Town - I wouldn't say it was touch and go, when the referee's doing an inspection in wellies you know that there's not much chance of the game being on, says very frustrated Deal Town boss Steve King

Corsham Town – Deal Town
Location	Southbank, Lacock Road, Corsham, Wiltshire SN13 9HS
Kickoff	14/01/2023 15:00

CORSHAM TOWN  P-P  DEAL TOWN
The Isuzu FA Vase Fourth Round
Saturday 14 January 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from Southbank

DEAL TOWN manager Steve King says it was very frustrating that his side’s FA Vase Fourth Round tie at Corsham Town was called off upon their arrival at a waterlogged Southbank.

 

The Deal contingent left the Kent coast late on Friday afternoon and stayed overnight at a hotel in nearby Chippenham.

They arrived at the Wiltshire ground at around 12:20, only for the game to be called off by the match referee following a pitch inspection.

The tie has been re-arranged for next Saturday, 21 January, which means Deal Town’s home Kent Senior Trophy Quarter-Final tie against First Division leaders Snodland Town has been rescheduled for Tuesday, 24 January.

“Very frustrating,” said King, looking out on the sodden playing surface, at 12:30, with rain falling.

“I don’t want to criticise people because there was an awful lot of rain over night and it’s hard to go on forecasts but obviously the pitch is nowhere near playable.

“Possibly a decision could’ve been made (before our departure).  We have been in contact with Corsham.  They did say it wasn’t great yesterday but they’ve put out on social media that they’ve spent a lot of money on drainage and they were pretty confident the game being on, so it’s very, very frustrating.

“It’s expensive for our football club because we came down last night but right now we’re standing in the rain, it’s still coming and there’s not much we can do. We’ll have to prepare for coming back next week.”

When asked about the costs of having to make two trips here in the space of seven days, King replied: “I don’t know exactly, but if you think about a hotel for 18 players, four staff, an overnight stay and a coach, but that’s a decision we’ve made as a football club to try to put up the best we could.

“As we can see, I wouldn’t say it was touch and go, with the referee doing an inspection in wellies, you know there’s not much chance of the game being on!

“We’ll get ourselves prepped this week.  We’ll have to try to sort out some arrangements for next Saturday.  We’ll have a think about that.

“That puts off the Kent Senior Trophy Quarter-Final and will be moved as well. We were looking forward to playing Snodland at home, so we’ll have a reflect on the way home and make some plans for next week.”

This was Corsham Town’s first foray in the last 32 of a national competition and more thought should have been given to the travelling supporters, with Deal making a wasted near 400 mile round trip and players’ taking time off work to travel and play in the game.

King added: “The only thing was they make a decision before yesterday lunchtime before we travelled based on a forecast but they were saying the pitch was playable yesterday. It’s hard to forecast because you don’t know what’s going to come. We’ve had 10 or 11 solid hours of rain overnight, it’s raining again now and that’s obviously made the pitch unplayable.

“I’m not here to criticise other people, it is what it is but it’s very frustrating for us.  The boys are gutted because we were ready for the game but we’ll enjoy ourselves on the way home and we’ll go again next week.”

The home club issued this statement on their club website on Thursday.

“We have been working tirelessly over the last 24 hours to ensure that there is no reason why the game would need to be postponed due to poor weather.  We are confident that with the dry weather forecast over the next 36 hours, we will be able to get the game ON.

“On top of this, our pitch partner will be visiting the ground (on Friday) to ensure the surface is in the best possible condition ahead of kick-off.”

The club sent this message via their Twitter feed at around eight o’clock this morning.

“We have received lots of messages through the night regarding the pitch.  We are aware that the Deal Town team, officials and supporters have travelled last night ahead of today’s game.

“Inline with this, we will be doing all we can over the course of today to ensure the game is on.  The rain is due to be problematic until 10am and then we hope it will clear and the pitch will drain.

“If we do have to postpone the game, the decision will be made as late as possible to ensure no wasted travel for the travelling team and supporters that are already here.”

However, at around 12 noon, three hours before the scheduled start, Corsham Town warned their fans that the game was in doubt.  No use for travelling supporters, considering they would have been on their way at the time of the social media posting.

“Despite the best efforts of all our volunteers this morning, it is looking ever likely that the game will be postponed today. We are awaiting confirmation from match official and will update you all again in due course.”

Corsham Town:

Goals:

Booked:

Deal Town:

Goals:

Booked:

Attendance:
Referee: Mr Iain Parsons
Assistants: Mr Daniel Spyer & Mr Michael Halford
Fourth Official:  Mr Simon Laraway