Despite Sedgley Park’s pitch being ‘one of the best’ in National League Two North, Tigers coach Geoff Roberts admitted the early decision to postpone his side’s weekend match with Luctonians was the right one, after heavy rain made the ground unplayable.

“Our pitch is one of the best in the league and even that was pretty heavily waterlogged with a lot of standing water,” he said.

“In the southern section every game was postponed and half of the northern section was also off, so that paints a picture of the state of everything. It certainly has been dreadful.”

With the visiting Luctonian side facing the prospect of a wasted 250-mile round trip, the decision to call the game off on Friday seemed like the only sensible decision to Roberts.

“Because they were travelling quite a distance, and with the forecast for more rain overnight on Friday and on match day, we knew it was going to be a no-go.

“You have to be sensible and considerate. If it looks like the match is unlikely to go ahead, and a team is travelling a reasonable distance, then a late decision is very aggravating.”

The Tigers had been on a nine-match winning streak and chasing promotion before the turn of the year, but have since lost four out of their six league matches, including a shock 14-12 defeat at strugglers Otley last weekend.

And Roberts is laying much of the blame for his side’s demise on the poor weather conditions and the state of the pitches.

He said: “I think all of this is a bit of a combination of bad weather, horrible grounds and a few injuries mixed in.

“We do like a bit of a fast track and when we get in the mud it doesn’t really suit us, so we’ve just come unstuck.

“The pitches are certainly not helping our cause at the moment.”

Roberts also highlighted how the weather is disrupting his side’s preparation for matches.

He said: “Even training has been difficult. The Sedgley Park pitches have been dreadful for a quite some weeks now, even as far back as Christmas.

“You try to find all-weather pitches but they tend to be block booked, so that’s difficult too. It makes it hard to find a realistic training programme.”

The Tigers, who have a scheduled blank date this Saturday, have rearranged the Luctonians match for Saturday, April 19.