Mike Jackson disappointed with postponement of the Colchester game
Town’s game at Colchester United fell foul of the weather on Tuesday afternoon after a second pitch inspection ruled the Weston Community Homes Stadium pitch unplayable.
There had been doubt ahead of the game and the team delayed travel plans until after an initial 9:30am inspection. This was inconclusive and a later inspection was arranged but the team and club officials had to begin their journey and preparations for the game.
ShrewsWeb spoke to Mike Jackson this morning and he was sure that the right decision had been made to postpone the game:”I spoke to Joe Dunne the day before and he said it was very wet and that they’d arranged for a pitch inspection on the morning of the game.
“I spoke to him again on Tuesday morning and he said a local ref had taken a look and but wanted to look at it again at half three. They had given him the weather reports and said that if it rained then the game would be off.
“We had to set off to make sure we got there in time but as soon as you walked on the pitch the water comes up through the holes that they’d spiked. There was a large area outside each goal area which was just mud.
“If the game had started, or even the warm-up, then the whole pitch would have churned up straight away.
“The match referee turned up and called it straight off, he took into consideration the safety of the players and the fact the pitch would just churn up. You wouldn’t mind if it was just one patch of the pitch but it was all over, if the game had started the ball wouldn’t have moved and it would have been farcical.”
The postponement was a big disappointment for the caretaker Town manager who was looking for his side to build on Saturday’s promising performance at Swindon Town:”We really wanted to play the game especially after the Swindon game; it was the opportunity to play someone around us and get some points to set us up for Saturday.
“It’s very tight around us in the league, if you look at Colchester they’ve had a couple of results recently and they are up in 12th place.
“We need to start beating the teams around us and pick up points, you can’t think about losing against the teams near us in the league.”
The next three days will see the Town squad and coaches decamp to Lilleshall to begin preparation for Saturday’s important game at home to high flying Brentford. The training facilities in Shrewsbury are still affected by the weather so the move to Lilleshall will allow the players to get back out on the grass:”I said to the lads last night it now gives us three days to prepare for the important game against Brentford on Saturday.
“Brentford are a good side, there is no disguising that fact but we’ve got the time to prepare for the game correctly.
“They score goals but also concede, but the biggest thing about them, and why they are at the top, is that they are fit and they run and they run and they run.
“It will be their third game in a week so hopefully we might just be catching them at the right time.”