WORCESTER City has published an apology over the late postponement of Saturday's home clash with Coventry Sphinx.

The Victoria Ground pitch was deemed unplayable due to frozen areas after an 11am inspection but club officials opted to try to get the match on with sun breaking through and temperatures rising.

Match referee James Lunn, who did not carry out the first inspection, arrived at 1.30 and called a halt to any prospect of play just after 2pm following lengthy consultation with both clubs.

On Saturday, City manager John Snape indicated both teams had been happy to play with his stance supported in today's release from the club on the back of online criticism since the weekend.

The release on City's official website read: "We would like to apologise to all those who travelled to Saturday's game which was eventually postponed.

"An inspection took place on the morning which took around 30 minutes to complete.

"There were two areas of concern to the referee, the goal mouths and in front of the East Stand which had been in the shade.

"We consulted with the chairman and our counterparts at Coventry Sphinx and with knowledge to hand, knowing the sun was due to go higher and move further around, all parties agreed to wait for the match referee to arrive to inspect those areas of concern which would give further time to thaw.

"The match referee was informed of this and was due to arrive earlier to inspect.

"By 1pm the sun was fully on the earlier shaded area in front of the East Stand and the entire section had much more give in it. The goal mouths also were no longer a concern.

"However, the match referee found his own area of concern by the corner flag at the South End (the corner nearest the turnstiles) where, off the pitch, it was deemed it would have been dangerous for anyone running up to take a corner kick.

"Despite club officials and both sets of players believing the pitch was perfectly fine and playable the referee took the decision to call off the game.

We can only apologise to our faithful supporters for this and the miscommunication on the day. As a club we will learn from this moving forward."

The rescheduled date for the fixture is Wednesday, March 6.