Stoke City manager Michael O'Neill says the colour of Nottingham Forest's kit proved to be an unexpected problem last night.
Freezing fog in the second half meant parts of the pitch all-but disappeared after the break at the bet365 Stadium as it finished 1-1.
Abandonments are pretty rare at Stoke these days and there haven’t been any since they moved to this ground in 1997, with only one match postponed in that time too, but this one must have been pretty close to the threshold.
O’Neill mentioned Forest's grey third kit as he discussed an errant back pass from John Obi Mikel that needed Joe Bursik on alert to prevent a Forest winner.
He said: “It was a great save in the end from Joe. John (Obi Mikel) plays a pass blind, he doesn’t see the Forest player there which is understandable. It’s very difficult. I’ve watched it back on video and it’s very difficult with the colour of their shirts as well to see. It was very, very difficult for the players.
“We gave them three or four opportunities due to bad decisions at that point of the game. We lost a wee bit of belief although we had a couple of chances to win it ourselves later on too.”
It appears that abandonments and changes to kit are at the officials' discretion.
EFL rules state that an abandoned match should be replayed although the guidebook adds: “Any league match which from any cause whatever falls short of 90 minutes’ duration may be ordered to count as a completed fixture or be replayed in full or in part on whatever terms and conditions the board shall in their absolute discretion.”
The one postponed Stoke match at the bet365 came in 2004 when high winds paid for the visit of West Bromwich Albion.
