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Game could be played this weekend

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ACCRINGTON STANLEY chief executive Rob Heys has confirmed that Accrington and Brentford are talking about the possibility of playing the game that was called off on Saturday 19th January.

900 Brentford fans had made the long trip north for the game on Saturday, only for the referee to call the game off just one hour before kick off.

This as you can imagine left Brentford fans fuming, after a Football League official had initially said the pitch was playable at 10am, and with no rainfall since it begs the question why one official said it was playable whilst the other disagreed.

The angry travelling southerners gathered outside the Fraser Eagle Stadium, blocking the road and causing the Police to have to disperce the fans.

Around 100 of the congragating fans were alloud on to the terraces to see the state of the pitch for themselves but it still didn’t calm them down and in the end even Brentford gaffer Andy Scott was called in, in a desperate attempt to calm the fans.

‘It’s very disappointing for the fans who had to make the long journey to Accrington.

‘I’m disappointed in the state of the pitch because it’s clearly unplayable and the game could have been called off on Friday.

‘We were told at 10am that the pitch was playable, but it clearly wasn’t, and I feel for the 900 or so fans who had to make a pointless journey.

‘It’s disappointing because we are on a good run.

‘I’m sure the Accrington ground staff did their best and made every effort to get the game on but there wasn’t a chance.

‘Even if they had called the game off at 10am, we could have turned around and gone home but how things have panned out is very disappointing.

‘It was the right decision but at the wrong time.’

Stanley are set to lose thousands of pounds in event of the game being called off, and although he has sympathy with the Brentford faithful, he has also been left cursing the referees decision.

‘The financial aspect of what has happened is very costly to us.’ Rob Heys told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

‘We stand to lose about £20,000 – and that’s a lot of money for a club who operate on a tight budget.

‘It leaves a big hole in our finances.’

‘We did everything we could to get the game on.

‘We called the Football League and they sent down one of their referees to look at the pitch and he gave us the go ahead.

‘We then worked on the pitch, got some sand on the pitch and as we’d had no rain the surface actually improved.

‘But the match referee decided that the pitch wasn’t fit and called the game off because he considered it could be dangerous to the players.

‘It’s a shame for the Brentford fans but it’s disappointing for us because there was a lot of media at the ground and we would have had a big crowd on but, at the end of the day, the decision was down to the referee.’

The game could go ahead next weekend as the weekend is F.A. Cup weekend with no scheduled fixtures for either side.

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