NEWS CHANNELDons chairman Pete Winkelman has described Saturday’s 11th hour postponement of the game with Carlisle United as one of his ‘darkest days’ at the club.
The match failed to get underway because of a frozen pitch and the club has admitted that its protection measures for the stadiummk turf were not adequate.
Only half of the pitch was covered overnight as a decision was taken to only protect areas where there had been problems in previous cold snaps.
This backfired as a 30-yard section remained frozen, prompting referee Darren Sheldrake to call the match off.
Mr Winkelman was left ‘embarrassed’ by the events and manager Karl Robinson said he was ‘fuming’ at the situation.
Carlisle supporters – who embarked on a wasted round trip of more than 500 miles – had already arrived at the stadium along with thousands of home fans when the game was axed.
Dons have unreservedly apologised for what happened and have already held meetings to discuss avoiding a repeat.
The game, which will likely be rearranged for a Tuesday night, was the only one in the top four divisions not to beat the chill and local non-league games at Newport Pagnell and Stony Stratford did go ahead.
Carlisle fans have had their tickets refunded and will get in for free at the rearrangement, and they can also bring a friend for free.
In addition, two coaches will be laid on from Cumbria by Dons, and home supporters will also benefit from the bring a friend offer.
“We are trying to make the best of what was one of my darkest days in football,” Mr Winkelman said.
“It was a real embarrassment and not good for either club so we’ve tried to do something special.
“No-one was expecting it to be called off at any point during the morning, it was completely out of the blue, but if it had been the other way around I’d have been really angry.
“We have learnt lessons and there will be more pitch protection in future, we’re a new club and sometimes things have to go wrong to learn.”
