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Tony Burman left frustrated by late postponement of Dartford v Harrow game

Tony Burman
Tony Burman

Dartford boss Tony Burman could not hide his frustration after Saturday’s Ryman League Premier Division game at Harrow was called off less than 45 minutes before kick-off.

Hundreds of fans had made the trip around the M25 for the clash, but despite an 11.30am pitch inspection, it was not until after 2pm that the game was called off due to a frozen pitch.

The postponement and fixture congestion is set to leave the Darts facing a trip to north west London on a Thursday night later in the season.

Burman said: "I am frustrated and disappointed to be honest. Harrow told us there would be an inspection at 11.30am but the referee was driving up from Portsmouth and said he wanted to leave it as long as possible to see how the frozen area looked with the sun on it so we set off at 12pm.

"When we got there I would say 95 per cent of the pitch was perfectly playable and the Harrow manager thought the same.

"The problem was a strip in shade along the touchline and the referee was concerned for the safety of his linesman and the players."

Burman revealed: "We said we’d like to start the game and Harrow agreed so we went into the dressing room, named our team and came out to have a warm-up but the referee was there and wasn’t having any of it.

"We asked to start the game and see how it went but he said no. I think it was about 2.20pm.

"We were very, very disappointed, but you have to get on with it. A lot of fans had travelled over too and you have to feel very disappointed for them, but there’s not much you can do."

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