Darlo's away game at Whaddon Road in Cheltenham was today postponed less than two hours before kick off because of a frozen pitch.

Match referee Keith Stroud from Hampshire made the decision after conducting his third inspection of the Whaddon Road pitch. The troublesome part of the pitch was a 100 yard strip, roughly three yards wide down one side.

Temperatures overnight in Gloucestershire had dropped to minus 8, and it was in that background that Mr Stroud conducted early inspections at 9 am and 12 noon. It was obvious when some Darlington fans arrived at the ground about 1pm that the temperature wasn't going to rise much above zero , and that some of the frozen parts of the ground weren't going to thaw.

Darlo assistant manager Kevin Richardson said: "the ground is rock hard down the far side, and the referee has decided to call the game off for health and safety reasons."

No date has been set for the re-arranged game, but with a heavy schedule over the next two months, it looks as if April might be the best bet.