BOTH managers, Roy Keane and Malky Mackay, refused to blame anyone for today’s late postponement of Ipswich Town’s home match against Watford.

BOTH managers, Roy Keane and Malky Mackay, refused to blame anyone for today’s late postponement of Ipswich Town’s home match against Watford.

The Championship game was called off just 90 minutes before kick-off, at approximately 1.30pm, following a 1.15pm pitch inspection by referee Grant Hegley. The pitch was frozen in places.

“I think the referee would have been conscious of what happened here last week,” explained Keane, with reference to his side’s 3-0 win over Leicester, played in a snow blizzard and on a carpet of snow.

“Fergie (head groundsman Alan Ferguson) has great pride in getting games on, so we’re all disappointed.

“It’s an anti-climax. It’s been a bad few days anyway, having had two bad injuries on the training pitch, and now the game called off,” added Keane.

Keeper Brian Murphy is out for three months after breaking his ankle in training two days before Christmas, while left-sided specialist Shane O’Connor injured his shoulder in another training ground accident on Christmas Eve. O’Connor is expected to be sidelined for six weeks.

Watford boss Mackay explained: “It was one o’clock and I was in a hotel around the corner when I got the call to say that the game was doubtful.

“And just as we pulled up, we got the call to say the game was off, so I came in and had a chat with the referee.

“We had a walk on the pitch, and it’s the right decision he has made.”

The Portman Road pitch was covered by a balloon pumping hot air onto the surface, but it seems that the main problem arose when the cover was taken off and condensation began to freeze.