THE Shakers missed the chance to move off the foot of League One after a torrential downpour forced the referee to call off Tuesday night’s home match against Carlisle just 80 minutes before kick-off.

With their closest rivals – Hartlepool and Coventry – failing to win, the Shakers could have hauled themselves off the bottom with their first victory of the season.

Sadly, the heavens opened at around 5pm and referee Mark Brown said that he was left with no option but to cancel the match due to a waterlogged pitch when he made his final inspection at 6.20pm.

“We’d kept an eye on it since we got to the ground and the fact that the rain didn’t stop meant that it wasn't going to get any better,” he said.

“We took a ball on to the surface with us and it wasn't bouncing, so there was only one decision we could make.”

Head groundsman Mike Curtis said he and his team did their best to remove the water from the pitch, but agreed with the match officials’ decision.

“It has rained here 16 out of the last 17 days, so obviously the water table was already up,” said Curtis.

“The weather forecast had predicted showers throughout the day, with the possibility of them merging, and they certainly did that at about 5pm. I’ve never seen rain like it.

“Huge puddles formed on the pitch so there was no way the game could have been played.”

While other games in the North West – at Bolton and Burnley – were able to go ahead, Accrington Stanley’s League Two match at home to Rotherham also fell foul of the weather just minutes before kick-off.