WORCESTER City cannot be blamed for the Conference North derby against Gloucester being postponed, according to manager Carl Heeley.

Saturday’s clash was called off less than 90 minutes before kick-off at Aggborough because of a frozen pitch.

The fixture was initially given the go-ahead by a local referee but the match official, who had travelled from Liverpool, decided the surface was not fit.

Heeley admitted he had doubts about the pitch when he saw it at 11am and says City played it by the book.

He explained: “I had a call from the Kidderminster groundsman at 9am saying he had inspected the pitch and that it had frozen to the same level as the past week but by 12pm every day it had thawed out and had been perfectly playable.

“He advised me to get someone there at 11am to double check that it was progressing as expected. I was there for 11am and I was seriously concerned when I saw the pitch because there was no sun.

“I asked our secretary to get a local official in because I was concerned it wasn’t playable. We managed to get someone there for just after 12pm who made the decision that the pitch was playable.

“I rang the Gloucester manager and told him the sequence of events and he said they’d carry on and travel.

“I got to the ground at 12.45pm and when the match official got there he said the pitch was not playable, which backed up what I said from the start.”

The City boss continued: “I think Kidderminster did all they could have done to advise us and we did all we could as a club. We got an official in who said it was playable, I disagreed with him but I’m not an official.

“I’m perfectly satisfied that we couldn’t have done any more as a club and the match referee’s opinion was that the pitch wasn’t playable. Although it had improved, there were still parts that were frozen rock solid.

“I do feel for the Worcester supporters who travelled over and the Gloucester supporters who had a wasted journey.

“If we were doing it again, I don’t think we could have done it any differently.”