DOVER Athletic’s home derby clash with Margate, which should have been the highlight of Whites’ season, turned into a New Year’s Day nightmare when the game was postponed an hour before kick off because of a frozen pitch.

Herne Bay referee Mike McCoy, having passed the pitch fit at 1pm, then changed his mind an hour later after deciding to make a second inspection, saying that parts of the pitch were still dangerously hard. By that time around 300-400 supporters had already paid to come through the Crabble turnstiles, which the club had opened at 1pm after getting the ref’s initial “green light”.

Although most fans were content to shrug their shoulders and leave with a voucher giving them free admission for the rescheduled fixture, a group of around 50, mostly from Margate, gathered around the entrance to the dressing rooms demanding an immediate refund of their £8 admission money for adults.

Their protest lasted for nearly two hours, during which time they peacefully lambasted various Dover officials, with some fans claiming that they would not be able to come if the match was rescheduled in midweek.

According to Dover’s Ground Rules and Regulations, which are pinned up at the turnstiles, the club were not obliged to make a refund, with rule 15 stating: “Refund of cash admission charges paid at the turnstiles will not be made in any circumstances.”

However, being told that fact merely added to the fans’ sense of grievance, but Whites chairman Gordon Cowan finally placated their anger by promising that anyone who could not make the rescheduled game would have their money refunded if they wrote to Crabble enclosing their voucher.

Dover officials had been expecting a gate of over 3,000, three times the Crabble average this season, and Cowan expressed his dissatisfaction with the way in which the referee had handled the situation.

Margate boss Chris Kinnear said: “I can’t blame the referee. He made an honest decision. You can’t get away from it, it was dangerous out there."

Now the two clubs have got to agree on a new date, and one possibility is Easter Saturday, when both clubs are without a fixture.