Walsall v Oldham called off due to weather

Walsall's game with Oldham was called off this morning after sub-zero temperatures froze the Banks's Stadium pitch.

The Saddlers were due to host the Latics in League One tomorrow but freezing conditions have hit the football programme across the country.

Local referee Oliver Langford postponed the game with little hope of the grass thawing out.

The Banks's pitch has been protected all week but with temperatures plunging to minus 8C they have been unable to keep it playable.

The club are also wary of ruining the surface after extensive efforts to get games on last season damaged the pitch.

It made it almost unplayable with sand patches covering the grass following the cold snap last term.

Walsall didn't play between December 19 2009 and January 16 this year with the weather causing chaos in the Football League.

The break saw the Saddlers lose momentum and fall away from the play-off spots to finish 10th.

Now, they are bottom of the table and need to play but the team have even been struggling to train properly.

Their base at Essington has frozen over and even the artificial surface at the Banks's Stadium has been affected.

Boss Chris Hutchings said: "We trained outside on Tuesday but even the artificial pitch has frozen over now so we're trying to get some salt on it."

And the manager was disappointed the game is off but knows it is out of his hands.

He said: "You always need to play games, that's what you train all week for. In any position you want to play games, you don't want to have breaks but the elements are there and we can't do anything about it."