The home side started the brighter and in their first attack EP’s keeper Ben Purkis saved a shot from outside the area. Pagham took the lead on 8 mins when a through ball to Pagham’s leading scorer Dan Simmonds saw him tuck the ball in with just Purkis to beat.

East Preston were trying to play football in difficult conditions and Hayden Hunter (pictured) had a half chance on 16 mins as he was put through, but a defender managed to get a tackle in before he could get his shot away. Purkis made another great save on 28 mins when from a Simmonds shot he somehow managed to deflect the ball over the bar with his legs.

Hunter had another chance on 34 mins as he cut in from the right, but his right foot shot went over the bar. Shortly after Jack Barnes put Hunter through and he was fouled outside the area, but the free kick came to nothing. Final chance of the half fell to Josh Etherington but his header from a Barnes corner went wide.

The pitch was in a very poor condition at half time and the referee told both Managers that he thought the pitch was still playable but would review as the second half progressed.

Half Time: 0-1

East Preston took the game to their hosts at the start of the second half and the first real chance fell to Dave Beaney whose shot from the edge of the area was blocked.

On 50 mins a nasty two footed tackle from a Pagham defender on Hunter somehow escaped any punishment as East Preston’s number 11 was lucky to not to have been injured.

The referee finally made the decision to abandon the game after 55 mins as the ball was not rolling freely and he was concerned for player safety. The game will now be rearranged on a date to be confirmed.

Manager Bob Paine said ‘The referee absolutely made the right decision to stop the game. I do think the pitch was playable at the start, just, and my only criticism of the referee was that I felt he should have abandoned the match at half time as in my view it wasn’t safe to continue, and the ball wasn’t rolling freely. I think what made his mind up was the terrible tackle from one of their defenders which could have resulted in a serious injury to Hayden. Luckily, he saw the challenge coming and tried to jump out of the way.

I was pleased with how we played today after being inactive for 6 weeks. If nothing else, it got 55 mins of intense game time into the players something you cannot replicate in training. The way we started the second half I’m sure we would have got something out of the game had it continued, and I hope now the weather improves and we can continue our season without any further interruptions’.

Team: Ben Purkis, Josh Parazo, Dave Beaney, Matt Searle, Tom Lyne, Josh Etherington, Luke Brodie, Jack Barnes, Dan Huet, Ryan Quirke, Hayden Hunter
Subs: Stuart McDonald, Nathan Da Costa, Jazz Gilbertson, Jake Heryet, Michael Waller