Following a pitch inspection this morning, Cheltenham Town's Sky Bet League One game v Lincoln City has been postponed due to a frozen pitch.
Today’s scheduled match against Lincoln City was postponed due to a frozen pitch at a 9.30am pitch inspection today by the match referee.
Unfortunately it became clear that the forecast rise in temperatures had not begun early enough to initiate a thaw of the ground in time for kick-off following several days of frost.
Frost covers had been in place from last Wednesday through to Tuesday of this week and they helped to enable the Papa Johns Trophy match against Chelsea Under-21s to take place on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, with the covers having been down for so long the pitch was starting to suffer and was in desperate need of some light and air for a couple of days. In any case, frost covers will only protect a pitch down to temperatures of around minus four degrees.
On both Wednesday night and Thursday night temperatures reached minus 10 so there was no way of preventing the freeze. Temperatures were forecast to rise to around six degrees today but with the frost so established in the ground, those higher temperatures would be needed for several hours before any meaningful thawing could take place.
The referee considered waiting until lunchtime for a second inspection, but it was highly unlikely any progress would have been made in that time so an early decision was made in order to save visiting fans from travelling and to save Cheltenham Town from incurring the cost of stewards, catering staff etc.
Tickets for today’s postponed match will be valid for the re-arranged fixture and we will announce the new date as soon as we have it. Anyone unable to attend the re-arranged fixture will be able to claim a refund or exchange their ticket for another match once the new date has been confirmed.
iFollow Match Passes purchased for the game will automatically be renewed for the rescheduled fixture as well.
With no match now until the Boxing Day visit of Plymouth Argyle we would like to wish all supporters a very happy Christmas and we look forward to seeing you when the weather is a little kinder to us.