Ashford United's new 3G pitch is still not ready and the club's Southern Counties East fixture against Canterbury City on Bank Holiday Monday has been moved away from Homelands.

The Nuts & Bolts will now take on their tenants at Hythe Town's Reachfields Stadium, 14 miles away.

Ashford released a statement denying claims the pitch had "failed" but confirming the latest delay.

It said: "The pitch has not been waterlogged in any way in the last few days despite the torrential downpours and flooding that has occurred locally in the Kingsnorth and surrounding areas.

"The actual testing of the 3G pitch will now take place on the September 11.

"The pitch has not yet been tested and certainly not failed. We can confirm that it has been impossible to top-dress the pitch with the crumb rubber due to the wet conditions.

"Our suppliers of the handling machinery have managed to obtain a machine to help with the initial rubber dressing which will take place over the next few days and like most farmers would agree, a dry day or two would help out immensely.

"The lab tests of the grass have been completed and passed by the governing authority as a product that satisfies all the criteria to be able to achieve a FIFA Grade 2 pitch which is of international playing quality."

Monday's game, which was due to be a 3pm kick-off at Homelands, will now start at 7.45pm.