SHRIMPERS skipper Adam Barrett has blasted the bizarre late decision to call off last night’s clash with Scunthorpe United.

Referee Keith Hill postponed the League One clash at Roots Hall because of a frozen pitch just 20 minutes before kick off.

But Barrett is still struggling to understand why the decision could not have been made earlier.

“I just find it all very odd and it baffles me why the game just couldn’t have been called off earlier,” fumed the 29-year-old.

“The pitch must have been in a similar state at around 4 o’clock or even earlier so why not postpone it then.

“It just seems crazy to me and I don’t understand why it was left so late.

“At that time of the day it’s only going to get worse because there’s no sunlight and it isn’t fair on the fans, especially those who have come all the way down from Scunthorpe on a Tuesday night to see the game.”

But while the timing of the decision angered Barrett he had no arguments with the actual decision to stop the game going ahead.

“There were parts of the pitch which were dangerous and had ice on,” he said.

“That’s why we couldn’t have played but it’s just very frustrating and a situation which could easily have been avoided.”

But referee Hill argued that he wanted to give the clash every possible opportunity of being played.

“We’re all gutted and disappointed that we’ve had to do this but we wanted a game of football and that’s why we kept on waiting until making the final decision,” said Hill.

“It’s one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make as a referee in my career but I couldn’t guarantee the safety of the players or the officials out there and that’s what meant we had to call it off.

“I was down at the ground all afternoon and Southend worked incredibly hard to try and get the game played.

“You just don’t know what’s going to happen and how things will change, so that’s why we didn’t call it off earlier.

“If I had a crystal ball then it would have been easier and maybe that’s something I now need to go and buy.”

Blues boss Steve Tilson refused to be too critical but expressed his disappointment at the game not being played as his team were looking to build on Saturday’s 1-0 win over Bristol Rovers.

“We are really disappointed, as we wanted to play the match,” said Tilson.

“The ground staff have worked hard to try and get the game on and we felt that the referee could have made a decision earlier.

“We didn’t want anybody to get injured, but we were all prepared for the match and it is very disappointing.”

No new date for the rearranged game has yet to be confirmed.