Oxford United’s npower League Two match at Lincoln today has been postponed after the Sincil Bank pitch failed an inspection yesterday afternoon.

Although the temperature had risen, many areas remained too frozen, and there was still a huge amount of snow on one area of the pitch and on the surrounds.

In the end, local referee Gary Sutton did not have a difficult decision to make.

However, United manager Chris Wilder was disappointed that the U’s, looking to make it three wins in a row, were unable to play.

There is no new date yet for the match.

It was the second time this week that Lincoln have had a match postponed, after their FA Cup replay against Hereford was called off. That is scheduled for Tuesday, and even that remains a big doubt.

But for Wilder, concerned only with Oxford, it is frustrating.

The U’s climbed to 12th after their game against Barnet last weekend went ahead and they beat the Bees 2-1.

But today, because of their enforced inactivity, Oxford are likely to slip back a few places in the table, with most of the other League Two games taking place.

Wilder said: “We are all really disappointed that the game was called off, especially after the effort we put in last week to get our own home game on.

“That just showed how determined we were to have the game on here, which was fully justified by us taking all three points.

“You just get the feeling that Lincoln weren’t too disappointed with the decision.”

He added: “We will come in on Saturday and keep working hard.

“The lads have been going well in training and we were looking forward to the game because we thought we had a real strong chance of keeping our winning run going.

“Now we will train instead and make sure that we keep the momentum going ready for a big game at home to Shrewsbury next weekend.”

Lincoln’s new manager Steve Tilson has made no secret of the fact that he is looking forward to January to bring in some new players.

And he described the referee’s verdict as “sensible”.

“It was a sensible decision,” Tilson said.

“The area in front of the South Park stand is absolutely rock solid and from the players’ point of view it was a massive safety risk.

“The roads and the paths around the ground are still frozen too and their safety was essential.

“But fair play to the groundstaff and volunteers who came to help clear the snow because they did a fantastic job and under the snow they cleared, the pitch is playable.

“Unfortunately, one end is still too hard and even if it had been given the go-ahead, I’m sure the police would have called it off anyway.”