Colchester United provide an update on the postponement of Saturday's game.
The game against Rochdale was called off at 2.30pm, due to the referee believing that the players’ safety may be compromised by the water that was on the surface.
In an exclusive interview with the club, Craig Hicks explained that everyone wanted the game to be on, the ground staff had done an incredible job, but he felt that it wasn’t safe to start and finish the game so he had to make the difficult decision to call it off.
Colchester United’s General Manager Tim Waddington was frustrated that another game has been postponed following other recent games being called off.
He told the official website: "First things first, we really feel for all the supporters who made the journey to the stadium for the game, including those Rochdale fans that were on the road early on Saturday morning and would have got home late in the evening having not seen their team play."
"We fully understand everyone’s frustration and disappointment, we had the exact same feelings when the referee called it off on Saturday.
"Making that decision is always the last thing any referee wants to do, especially so close to kick-off when fans have already travelled.
“It was left as late as possible to give the game the best chance of being on, so a decision to call it off wasn't taken lightly or with any disrespect to the supporters - it was left that late to hopefully give those fans a chance to watch a game."
And in answer to some questions about the deployment of covers, he continued: "Rain covers are regularly deployed in the run up to matches to prevent excessive water on the surface."
"The pitch was in great condition at 10am on Saturday but it was the torrential rain for the next few hours that did the damage, at a time when it would have been impossible to have the covers on and removed.
"Everything was done in those few hours to remove any standing water from the pitch, and the drainage system was pulling an extraordinary amount through to the tanks, but the rain beat us on this occasion.
"As mentioned earlier, we all really wanted the game to go ahead and feel for everyone who made the trip and didn’t get to see a game."
All tickets purchased for Saturday's game will be valid for the rearranged fixture, which will be announced once the two clubs and the EFL have agreed a suitable date.