Earlier in the season, Blackburn were leading Ipswich Town when the game was stopped with 10 minutes left on the clock. Despite the futile efforts of ground staff, the match was abandoned in a decision which caused a huge amount of controversy.
Blackburn felt they should have been awarded the victory, given their advantage at the time of the stoppage and the fact Ipswich had been reduced to 10 men.
However, the EFL ruled that a full replay was the only logical course of action. In a statement, Blackburn said they were ‘extremely disappointed’ with the outcome and vowed to consider appealing the decision.
Nothing came of it, though, and the rescheduled fixture took place earlier this week with Ipswich striking late to snatch a draw in stoppage time.
It seems likely that Blackburn will face similar frustration regarding their latest abandonment against Wednesday. By ruling that a replay was necessary against Ipswich, the EFL set a precedent that must surely be followed on this occasion as well.
League regulations state that any match which falls short of 90 minutes may be ordered to count as a completed fixture or be replayed in full or in part, on whatever terms and conditions the board determine.
Meanwhile, the FA rules state: “In the event of a match not being played or abandoned owing to causes over which neither club has control, it should be played in its entirety on a date to be mutually agreed by the two clubs and approved by the competition.”
As a result, a replay of Saturday’s game will almost certainly be ordered regardless of any potential grievances Blackburn may have.
After the Ipswich game was called off, Blackburn grounds manager Trevor Wilkin explained that the pitch was simply unable to handle that level of rain.
“As the day went on, it just got heavier and heavier,” he told RoversTV. “It got to the point where it was just saturated and it couldn’t physically take any more water.
“We got the figures for the rainfall the following day and we had over 77 millilitres of rain, which is over three inches. So you imagine three inches of water across the entire pitch, that’s a lot of water.
“There’s no hiding the fact that the pitch is old. The pitch now is 36 years old. So the old infrastructure, the drainage is old, but that’s irrelevant to the Ipswich game. Facts are facts. We just could not take that amount of water.”