By Mark Edwards REFEREE Andy D'Urso said he had "absolutely no option" but to call off Oxford United's FA Cup replay with Nottingham Forest yesterday afternoon.

The Manor Ground was still covered in snow when the Billericay official inspected the pitch at 3 o'clock.

Despite the efforts of everyone at United, including boss Mickey Lewis, who picked up a shovel to help shift the snow, D'Urso had no hesitation in postponing the third round replay.

"The safety of the players and spectators is the most important thing," he said. "You have 22 players out there and although we all want a game of football, it is not possible tonight.

"I had absolutely no option to call the game off."

The match will now be an all-ticket affair, played on January 8 - the date when the winners were due to face Chelsea in the fourth round.

All tickets bought for the match will be valid on the new date. Supporters unable to attend can claim a refund if they take their ticket to the place of purchase by 5pm on Wednesday, January 5. Season ticket holders and priority pass holders who have not purchased a ticket have until Wednesday, December 29 to do so.

Members can buy tickets from Thursday, December 30 and the remaining tickets will go on open sale after the Wigan match on January 3.

When D'Urso kicked a football on to the pitch yesterday, it merely collected snow and did not roll at all.

The only section of the pitch that was playable, was the area starting about ten yards outside the penalty box at the London Road end of the ground, which had been covered.

After spending ten minutes running over different parts of the pitch, D'Urso reached his decision - which had both managers in total agreement.

"If we had played tonight, the game would have been a complete farce," said Lewis. "It's a shame, because the lads were desperate to play and were really up for it. We desperately wanted to get back in action after Saturday's result (a 4-0 defeat at Bournemouth), but I suppose now that three games in a week will test us a bit!"

Forest boss David Platt said that from the moment he arrived, he had no doubt the game would be off.

"The conditions were not going to get any better and you couldn't possibly play on it at the moment.

"There was no way that you could have played a game of football on that. The ball wasn't rolling and would have been impossible to pass.

"It's certainly the right decision because it is not worth the risk of players getting injured on it."

Story date: Wednesday 22 December

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.