WITTON’S crucial Northern Premier League encounter with Ashton United on Saturday lasted little more than an hour before it was abandoned by referee Paul Hodskinson.

A heavy downpour of rain shortly after half time persuaded the match official to initially suspend the contest before calling it off 10 minutes later.

With huge puddles covering parts of the pitch at Hurst Cross and players struggling to stay on their feet, he decided it was no longer safe to continue.

The teams were tied at 0-0.

Albion had hoped to edge closer to a position of safety in the Premier Division by securing a fifth win this month, while their hosts’ objective was to close the gap to leaders FC United of Manchester at the table’s summit.

“Frustrating as it is, the referee made the right decision,” said Witton boss Tony Sullivan.

“We probably had a week’s worth of rain in the space of 15 minutes and, once it had started, that was it.

“Players had started to lose their footing, and their safety has to be paramount Neither side wants to lose a lad to an avoidable injury at this stage of the season.

“They’ve got a lot of big games coming up, as we have.”

In an even contest, Ashton went closest to scoring in the first half when Gary Gee ghosted onto Ashley Young’s pass only to fire narrowly wide.

At the other end, Danny Andrews’ free kick lacked the power to trouble goalkeeper Paul Phillips.

Conditions worsened rapidly at the start of the second period, though Gee prompted Witton custodian Dean Porter to save smartly to his left after wriggling past two attempted tackles.

From the resulting corner, Jay Gorton diverted Chris Baguley’s cross against the woodwork.

Five minutes later, with the pitch starting to cause problems, Hodskinson halted play to discuss the situation with Sullivan and his Ashton counterpart Steve Halford before giving the go-ahead to continue.

But, with the players still struggling, he quickly changed his mind.

The teams will now replay the fixture on Tuesday, April 21, kick off 7.45pm.