Stanley manager James Beattie was left disappointed by the decision to abandon this afternoon’s local derby against Morecambe.

Referee James Adcock called proceedings to a stop after 56 minutes with the score 0-0 at the Store First Stadium after deciding that the pitch was unplayable.

“I’m not best pleased about it. The ball stuck once as far as I was concerned in the second half and I think the game could even have been postponed for a few minutes because it isn’t raining now as we’re doing this interview.

“The pitch drains very quickly and if you’d seen it yesterday it was underwater but it was perfect to start the game. Yes, it was raining but I think that the pitch was draining at the same rate that it was raining so I think it probably would have maintained the level that it was at.

“None of the players were complaining as such though I know the Morecambe staff were and they were down to ten men.

“I think the referee could have given the game more time. I suppose there’s a bit of disappointment that we had a numerical advantage too.

“A few of their players came off saying they couldn’t believe it had been called off. When that’s being said you can imagine how I’m feeling. The ref called it off and we have to get on with it.

“He pulled me and Jim Bentley into his room at half time and told us that if it continued to rain he would have to call it off. He kept mentioning safety issues but nobody as I saw it went off their feet, slipped or lost their footing.

“The pitch was playing well and just had water on the top. The ball was rolling and the only time that it stopped was in the top left hand corner which is notoriously the wettest part of the pitch because it’s underneath the stand.”