Coggeshall 2 Stowmarket 0 Abandoned after 53 minutes, frozen pitch

Coggeshall and Stowmarket will have to do it all again after their game on Saturday was abandoned because of a frozen pitch.

And it was the Essex side who will have been the most frustrated, having taken a 2-0 lead before the match was called off.

The two top teams in the Thurlow Nunn Division One contested a feisty affair at ‘The Cropps’ with the leader’s Coggeshall Town in command until the 53rd minute call-off.

On a cold afternoon the ground looked impressive and the pitch had softened and perfectly playable after an early morning frost. 220 paying customers were in attendance to witness this top of the table clash.

The leaders were last beaten in September following two consecutive defeats against Haverhill Borough and Framlingham Town whilst the Suffolk side have been beaten just once. This was the return match following a 0-0 draw in November.

It was a frenetic start and the hosts opened the scoring in the 12th minute perhaps fortuitously. Jamie Shaw struck a stunning effort from the edge of the box that crashed against the bar with Lewis Higgins beaten but the keeper was unlucky when the ball rebounded off the woodwork struck his body and nestled into the net.

The home side looked impressive with Nnamdi Nwachuka and Shaw looking dangerous up front and extended their lead four minutes later. Both were involved in an interchanging movement that culminated with Nwachuka creating space 18 yards out before unleashing a low drive just inside the post beyond the extended Higgins.

Whilst Stowmarket had a couple of good opportunities the home side carried the threat and Kamal Guthmy’s corner was met with a superb volley by Tom Colville that was inches wide.

The game was increasingly developing into a physical encounter and the referee showed four yellow cards following a series of poor challenges.

After the restart the match was abruptly halted after a meagre eight minutes.

There was much confusion for the spectators as referee Mr Timothy Jones consulted with his senior assistant.

It transpired that, although disputed by some, a section of the length of the touch line was frozen

For that reason the game was abandoned and although Stowmarket will say there was enough time left in the game for them to get back in in, which there was, it was Coggeshall who were left more frustrated.