CINDERFORD Town chairman Ashley Saunders called the decision to call off Saturday’s home fixture against Taunton Town ’diabolical’, as the club will have to pay out around £1,200 in expenses.

Referee Paul Evans, from Northamptonshire, declared the game on after arriving at the Causeway, and met with managers from both sides to say so.

But within ten minutes, Evans had declared a section of the home pitch ’unstable’ and postponed the fixture.

Saunders is counting the cost for the change of heart, after Evans claimed £95.86 in travel expenses, while the linesmen have claimed £34 and £28.90.

On top of that, Cinderford Town will have to foot the bill for Taunton’s travelling coach – around £400 – as well as match day expenses such as programmes, stewarding and catering.

Saunders and fans from both clubs fumed at the decision, with the Town chairman calling the situation ’a total disaster’.

“It’s unbelievable. We’re the piggy in the middle again financially,” he said.

“He said one area of the pitch was ’unstable’ – but there was no water on the pitch. It was just a bit muddy.

“We could have put some sand on it to help but he didn’t even ask for that.

“To come from Northampton is ridiculous. It’s a long way; it’d make more sense for him to be assigned to a Worcestershire game and have a referee from that area come here.

“He’s claimed nearly £100 in travel expenses and we’ve got to pay the other two officials as well, and on top of that pay for the coach Taunton used to get here.

“This is all without taking anything on the gate.

“The fans were rightly angry and so were the club. It’s not anybody’s fault but that of the officials. We have missed out on about £1,500 from Saturday in lost revenue. It’s diabolical.

“We have had a lot of bad weather but for me the official should have started the game if not finished it.”

Saunders added that he will write to the FA to complain and argue the club’s case, adding: “It needs to be dealt with and I will be having strong words with them.

“The worry again is that we’re running out of time if we aren’t careful. We could end up with three games a week for a while. Hopefully that won’t be the case but also looking at the financial side, supporters can’t pay £8 a game three times a week.

“We are royally cheesed off. It can’t be swept under the carpet; if we don’t deal with it strongly then we’ll just get ignored. If we get clobbered with a fine, so be it.”