Chester FC boss Marcus Bignot has called on the football authorities to show more respect to supporters after the farcically late postponement of his side’s clash at Eastleigh on Saturday.

Chester were informed at 12.30pm on Saturday – just minutes before they arrived at the ground – that the game would not be getting the go-ahead owing to a drainage issue in a corner of the Silverlake Stadium playing surface.

Assurances had been given at 12pm from Eastleigh officials to Blues staff that the match would take place.

But after inspection from referee Savvas Yianni the pitch was deemed unplayable – despite clear skies in Hampshire and little rain overnight.

A planned early-morning pitch inspection was shelved by Eastleigh after a local match official had said the surface was playable the previous day.

Chester FC chief executive speaks to supporters after the postponement

But Chester were left stunned when, 15 miles from the ground, they received word of the postponement.

It was the Blues’ second postponement of the season having been forced to miss out on an opening clash at Solihull Moors due to safety concerns around the Midlands club’s stadium.

And with some Chester fans having already made the long trip south, manager Bignot says their treatment has been unacceptable and that somebody must be held accountable.

“I think sometimes the game forgets about its supporters,” said Bignot. “This has been a clear action today where there has been no consideration for supporters, and it’s the second time it’s happened this season to the football club.

“The management and players, we’ll be ok, but it’s the supporters – the most important people –who have been mistreated again.

“Somebody has to be accountable and you can’t just keep brushing this under the carpet. We are in a professional league and to have two games called off, we’ve not even had bad weather yet. Let’s have some respect for supporters please and let’s see some action being taken.”

Eastleigh's pitch was deemed unplayable, much to the anger of Chester FC and their supporters

Blues chief executive Mark Maguire expressed his anger at the situation having been given assurances beforehand that there were ‘no issues whatsoever’.

Maguire said: “We’ll have to get T-shirts printed with ‘Why Always Us?’ on them.

“We had a phone call on Friday, late afternoon, from a local referee to say that he’d been asked to look at the pitch as a courtesy, and that from his perspective the pitch was playable.

“That set alarm bells ringing with us so I made contact with the secretary of Eastleigh to establish whether there were any concerns.

“The secretary at Eastleigh said he’d been in communication with the manager, that there had been a planned inspection for Saturday morning (7am), but they decided between them that there were no issues whatsoever.

“The forecast was there was no rain forecast until midday today, and on that basis the planned inspection was cancelled. They’d been in communication with the match referee on those lines, and out of courtesy the match referee agreed to come down 15 minutes earlier to inspect but they didn't foresee any problems, bear in mind the weather forecast etc.

Chester FC chief executive Mark Maguire and manager Marcus Bignot speak to the press after the postponement

“Bear in mind we were leaving at 7.45am, so if there was any change on that to please let us know ahead of time because we didn't want to travel (if the game was postponed) and equally to let the fans know who were travelling.

“We then received a phone call at midday from their secretary telling us there were no issues with the pitch. They said an inspection wasn’t necessary but could the ref get here 15 minutes earlier just to have a look. He’s travelled two and a half hours, too, so he’s probably just as fed-up as we are.

“Half an hour later the match referee arrives as discussed, to look at it and he took the decision to call the game off. He’s looked at it and said the rest of the pitch is fantastic but that part of the pitch is unplayable.

“Clearly there has been a breakdown in communications somewhere, we’ll have to look into the reasons for that, but from our point of view it is totally unacceptable, most importantly for the fans because they’ve travelled this distance, but equally for Marcus and the players, for his preparation and efforts to get down here.

“To hear so late in the day – without being overly critical – it’s not beyond the realms of professionalism to get further notice than 12.30pm for a 3pm kick-off, particularly when the game was on at 12 midday.”

The match official declined to comment while an Eastleigh statement blamed ‘faulty drainage’ for the postponement of the game. You can read the statement in full HERE .