BILLERICAY Town manager Craig Edwards has condemned the “sheep mentality” of rival teams that he feels has contributed to the amount of home postponements this season.

Following a number of recent call-offs due to rain and frost, Edwards says a false perception of Town’s surface is now being taken advantage of by some of their opponents and he has called on local referees to stick by their original decision, under pressure from opposition managers.

Town have had eight home games called off this season, including several in the last fortnight, and Edwards adds they have played the majority of their cup matches at home.

“There is a perception with this pitch that won’t go away now,” says the Town boss, who has been at the club since 2010. “Against Margate (on Monday), the pitch was in perfect condition apart from the six-yard box when the referee did the pitch inspection at 2pm and it made sense to call it off.

“However, come 7.45pm the pitch was totally frozen and there was no way it was playable and the referee made the right decision. But when the frost comes into play it affects our pitch as much as one of the best surfaces in the league.

“People are pre-judging the pitch because games are called off here but this pitch is no worse than a number of others in this league. I will be the first to admit if a game should be called off, but there have been cases where the game could easily have gone ahead.”

One of those was Billericay’s match with Witham Town on Saturday, January 25.

The game was set to go ahead before Witham boss Garry Kimble told the referee his players didn’t want the game to go ahead due to the condition of the pitch, which Edwards described as “muddy”, before it was postponed 30 minutes before kick-off.

“In 14 years as a manager I have never seen anyone get injured on a muddy pitch,” he said. “It is so frustrating. There are games this season that have been postponed that could have been played. The Witham Town game was playable but their manager (Garry Kimble) didn’t fancy it so the referee called it off.

“The worst case was last season when Lowestoft came here. The referee said the pitch was playable at 2pm and there was no rain at 6.30pm when Lowestoft arrived but their manager took a look and started taking pictures. And once he told the referee he would hold him accountable if there were any injuries I knew it would be called off.”

“We need a system in place where once a referee makes a decision that is the way it should stay.”

Town chairman Steve Kent recently criticised the late postponement of the Witham match (30 minutes before kick-off) and questioned whether having a pitch inspection before the game now favoured the away side, as opposed to stopping the hosts gaining an advantage.

But Edwards was in agreement that Monday’s league game against Margate had to be postponed.

“It makes getting games on very difficult and the rest of the pitch was in good condition which makes it so frustrating for us.”

Town are due to host Met Police on Saturday but having played only 13 home matches this term, the joint second fewest in the Ryman Premier Division, there are concerns this will also be postponed with widespread frosts expected later this week.

Edwards saw the club’s Essex Senior Cup quarter-final clash with Brightlingsea Regent postponed three times before the match was played, while a third round Ryman League Cup game against AFC Hornchurch has is yet to be played after two postponements.

Despite the postponements, Edwards insists morale couldn’t be better in the camp.

“There is nothing worse than turning up for a game and being told it is cancelled,” he said. “But once the boys have started training the spring is back in their step and that is great to see. They lift me with their spirit in the same way I lift them and that works well.

“We joke over here that you don’t go out in Billericay on a Friday evening without an umbrella, and the same applies on Mondays!

“But we are based in a valley and there is nothing we can do about that. We just want to play football and hope visiting teams have the same mentality if the referee says the pitch is OK.”

Town are due to host Met Police at New Lodge on Saturday.