Darlington were left furious with referee Paul Kettlewell for attempting to play their match at Kendal Town yesterday, despite there being puddles of ankle-deep water, only to see the match inevitably abandoned after 15 minutes.

Supporters were left out of pocket and manager Martin Gray was livid with Kettlewell, saying the players’ safety was put at risk.

The Northern Echo understands Quakers are considering their options and may file a complaint to the Football Association about Kettlewell’s decision to play when there had been standing water on the pitch long before kick-off.

Kettlewell says he wanted to give the game a go, but later admitted it was “probably” the wrong move.

The quarter of an hour was a fiasco, the ball often stopping dead in puddles and players losing their balance. Stephen Thompson and David Dowson each dribbled into the penalty area, only to lose the ball in a puddle.

Gray said: “When we got here at 1.30pm it was unplayable and between then and 5pm there were three hours of rainfall forecast. The pitch wasn’t going to get any better, the rain was torrential.

“I was worried about the safety of our players.

“We knew the game should never have started, I told the ref before the game, but he wanted to give it a go.

“The conditions weren’t a leveller, it was just dangerous.”

Despite passing a mid-morning inspection, with further rain forecast the fixture always appeared in doubt due to constant rain in Cumbria.

So was a surprise it was not called off at 2.20pm, when Kettlewell held another inspection, by which stage conditions were not playable. In front of the main stand players were sinking into the sodden turf, the ball hardly moving when kicked.

Gray added: “The referee made his mind up early and didn’t even come out to do a warm-up. So he never assessed the pitch from 2.20 until the game started at 3pm and in that time there were 40 minutes of rainfall, the puddles were bigger and deeper and the ball certainly wasn’t rolling.

“We asked the referee to come out again at 2.40pm and he refused.

“It’s been a very frustrating day.”

Kettlewell explained how he came to his decision, saying: “The pitch was deemed playable this morning, it was absolutely fine. There was quite a lot of rain between then and now. At 2.20pm we did a further inspection and the ball rolled well on the majority of the pitch apart from two small areas.

“There was quite considerable rain between 2.20 and 3pm, but at 2.20pm we decided we’d give [the game] 15 minutes. In hindsight that probably wasn’t the best idea.

“We thought we’d start, the ball didn’t roll as well as we thought it might and, therefore, at 3.15 we decided that the game would be abandoned.

“There’s areas of the pitch where it [the ball] was rolling fine, but there’s areas of the pitch where it wasn’t rolling fine. You’ve got to try and create a balance. But for me there were too many areas where it wasn’t rolling well so it was best to be abandoned.

“We give it a go and perhaps it wasn’t to be today.”

Supporters were not given a refund, despite seeing so little action.

Instead, on leaving the ground they were handed a free ticket for the rearranged fixture, a move in keeping with Evo-Stik League rules.

Fans were given their money back when the same fixture on New Year’s Day last year was postponed an hour before kick-off due to a waterlogged pitch.

Kettlewell is entitled to his full £45 match fee due to the game having started. Referees receive only half a fee if a match is postponed before kick-off.

Darlington at least did not lose much ground in the title race as leaders Northwich drew while third-placed Salford City lost for the second game in a row.

Quakers face Brighouse Town at Heritage Park on Saturday, going into the game two points off the top with two games in hand.