MIDDLEWICH Town's agonising wait for a Saturday match stretched to a month when their ground trustees closed Seddon Street on Saturday.

They stopped the Mid-Cheshire League meeting with Grove United taking place, even though the referee gave the pitch the all-clear.

But members of the Middlewich Football Ground Trust shut Seddon Street at 1pm in the interests of preserving the pitch for the whole of the football club.

Middlewich Town chairman Steve Morris, also one of the trustees, explained: "At 7.30 that morning I marked the pitch out, which shows that we were anxious to play the game.

"We decided that it was playable, but if there was any more rain it would have to be off.

"It's all very well the referee turning up and saying it's playable, but after 90 minutes he walks away.

"As a trustee I felt that as we've got in the region of 150 games to play at Middlewich Football club, from first team, reserves through to juniors, we're all one club so nobody has priority.

"If we had played I know for a fact it would have cut up beyond repair and we'd be facing even more postponements, with no game for another three or four weeks.

"Being realistic and sensible, we have a responsibility to maintain the pitch and to destroy it for the sake of one game would be gross mismanagement.

"The last thing we want is a fixture backlog and the decision wasn't taken lightly."

Town are waiting to hear back from the league to see what action, if any, they decide to take to deal with this unique and unprecedented decision.

Middlewich will try for the fourth time to fulfil their Cheshire FA Cup tie with Vale Juniors this Saturday (2.15pm).

The only game they have played in November was at Nantwich Town in the Mid-Cheshire Senior Cup, and manager Dave Twite is hoping to re-stage that fixture in a friendly.

He said: "They have to play Bedlington Terriers in the Vase and as their last game was called off, they might want a match too, so we've pencilled it in because we need to get a game."