Harrogate Railway boss Mick O'Connell fumes at abandonment of crunch clash with title rivals Campion AFC

Wednesday night’s fixture was called off at half-time due to snow with the visitors leading 2-1 through goals from Lewis Walters and Kieran Greenway.

Falling snow had to be cleared during the game so that the pitch markings remained visible, but there were seemingly no other issues with the playing surface during an opening 45 minutes which Railway had much the better of despite falling behind with just three minutes on the clock.

But the match referee decided during the interval that the contest could not continue, meaning that it will have to be replayed.

Thus, O’Connell was left extremely frustrated by both the abandonment and the sequence of events which he believes resulted in the officials making the call they did.

“What happened was an absolute shambles,” he told the Harrogate Advertiser.

"The referee stopped the game after about 30 minutes to clear the snow off the lines and was happy to restart it and play on until half-time. There was no problem with the pitch. It wasn’t frozen, the ball was moving perfectly fine across the surface. There were no issues.

"At 1-0 up, Campion weren’t asking the referee about the pitch being playable. When we were 2-1 up, it was a different story. I didn’t hear their manager’s conversation with the referee at half-time as I went straight to our changing room, but I saw him make a beeline for the officials and I’ve subsequently watched video coverage.

"You can see their manager stood talking to the referee for two or three minutes after the half-time whistle. A number of our lads were surrounding them, they heard what was said.

"So, in my opinion, it wasn’t the referee who has decided to call it, their manager has clearly influenced that happening.”

Had they managed to see the match out with their lead intact, Railway would have moved to within three points of top-of-the-table Campion while also holding a game in hand.

"It’s very disappointing. It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth because of the way it has happened. It was all very underhand,” O’Connell added.

"Why weren’t concerns raised when Campion were 1-0 up? The pitch hadn’t got any worse between the 30th and the 45th minute after the lines were cleared. If the game was going to be called off it should have happened much earlier than it did.

"It makes no sense to me, particularly as the fixture at Albion Sports a couple of miles down the road was played to a conclusion.

"It leaves us in a really tough position because we have got to go back there and play them again. And, with the schedule we already have to contend with, I don’t know how we are going to fit this fixture in.”

A goalkeeping error from Joe Wilton following a long throw-in into the Railway box led to Sam Bradley giving Campion an early lead, though the visitors drew level when Walters netted for the second match in succession.

Greenway then turned the game on its head shortly before half-time, with O’Connell adamant that his players were very good value for their interval advantage.

"I’m not just disappointed because we were winning, I’m disappointed because we were playing so well,” the Irishman continued.

"We were dominant, we must have had nearly 80 percent of possession. We played with character and composure and could really have gone into half-time 3-1 up.

"I don’t think Campion managed a shot on target. Their goal came from a catastrophic error by our keeper, who has come out and dropped the ball.

"I’m not saying that we are a better team than Campion in general, however we were the better team on the night – any neutral watching the game will tell you that.

"We were fuming on the night, but we just have to take the positives from the way we performed and use that as motivation when we go back there to replay the game and just make sure that we finish the job.”

Railway return to action this weekend when they travel to 13th-placed Beverley Town for a 3pm kick-off.