THE late postponement of Crewe's home clash with Portsmouth today (Saturday) left referee Martin Coy under scrutiny.

The match official called off the League One clash after holding a 1.45pm inspection amid concerns over large areas of surface water on the pitch at the Mornflake Stadium.

Crewe had been keen to get the game on despite the wet weather and the pitch was playable until torrential rain after midday.

Yet after the cancellation the surface appeared to drain quickly and looked in reasonable condition by the time fans were leaving the stadium concourse.

Pompey boss Danny Cowley was convinced the game could have been played.

"We had a lot of rain in a couple of hours. It was a difficult call, but I think it could have been playable with the right remedial work," said Cowley.

More than 1,200 Pompey fans had headed north for the fixture and one of them, Graham Brown, said: "It's just annoying. If it was unplayable then fair enough, but what we're hearing from everybody, including Crewe, is that it was playable and they could have delayed the decision a bit longer."

Alex Chairman Charles Grant said: "If we'd been able to give it a bit longer then it would have been playable, but the referee wasn't able to take a decision to delay any longer. I feel sorry for the Portsmouth fans."