Kettering Town clash called off at last minute due to waterlogged pitch
Kettering Town's Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central clash with Alvechurch on Saturday was called off at the very last minute, with referee Simon Kavanagh postponing the match at the scheduled kick-off time of 3pm.
It was supposed to be a day of celebration at Latimer Park, with the club marking the 50th anniversary of being the first English team to play a match with on-shirt advertising back in 1976.
A host of former players were in attendance, and the team was due to wear replica kits of the Kettering Tyres jersey worn by Derek Dougan's side all those years ago.
But it all turned out to be an anti-climax, as the game was postponed by the referee due to a waterlogged pitch after heavy overnight in rain in Northamptonshire.
The pitch was initially inspected at 1pm, but officials and groundstaff were still confident the game would go ahead, although the club announced on social media at around 2pm that kick-off was set to be delayed until 3.30pm.
But after a further inspection of the playing surface at 3pm, it was deemed to be unplayable and the match was called off.
A brief statement was released on the club;s website that read: "Due to the rain sodden pitch, todays game against Alvechurch Fc has been called off.
"Details of the rearranged fixture will published as soon as its scheduled."
Alvechurch FC also released a statement on social media, which read: "Today's game has unfortunately been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. We can only apologise to those fans who have made the journey."