Despite the beautiful sunshine bathing east Oxford, and the several days of thaw in the area, today's game against Rushden & Diamonds, which would have seen almost 10,000 in attendance, has been called off because of a frozen pitch. Referee Brendan Malone ruled that the game is unplayable because of a narrow strip of ground in the shadow of the South Stand that remains frozen, despite the club's efforts to defrost the pitch.

Although games at the Kas get called off because of the weather very rarely, and there is obviously no financial sense in installing underpitch heating, this decision does raise several important issues. First, and one that the club can now do nothing about, is the decision, that in hindsight appears obvious, to build the ground's largest stand on the south side, throwing a large shadow on the pitch. Another issue concerns the precautions that those responsible for looking after the pitch could have taken to ensure that the game will go ahead. Several days have elapsed since the snow fell, and yet apart from some covering by the segregation nets, there appear to have been no other efforts to protect that part of the pitch, such as a covering of sand or the use of some hot-air blowers, that would surely have cost a fraction of the amount of money that the club is likely to lose as a result of this postponement.

Anyway, as frustrating as this decision undoubtedly is, the club will now have to put this behind them and concentrate on Monday's game at Salisbury City, assuming that goes ahead (fog is forecast). United's next home game is the FA Trophy second-round tie against Woking on 9 January.