FRUSTRATED manager Ken Vaughan questioned the decision to start Bournemouth Poppies’ match at Whitchurch last night after their Wessex Premier clash was abandoned on 37 minutes.

A first-half downpour on an already sodden pitch saw the action prematurely ended by match referee Nigel Gibbens with the hosts 1-0 up through Isaac Sedu’s 26th-minute goal.

It was the second time this season Poppies have had a match abandoned after their Hampshire Senior Cup tie at Stockbridge was curtailed by floodlight failure in October.

And after enduring a wasted 100-mile round-trip for the midweek clash, Vaughan called for more “common sense” when assessing the condition of pitches.

The Poppies boss told the Daily Echo: “I walked across the pitch before the game and it was very heavy. It could not take any more water. We had looked at the forecast and it was meant to rain from about 8pm.

“It was pretty obvious to me that it would be a mud bath either way, the pitch was saturated and you would have thought that would have been taken into account before making us travel.

“Whitchurch were apologetic about it and I know every effort has to be made to get games on, but if getting the game played rests on whether we have a shower of rain, surely it has to be called off in the first place.

“It was one of our longest trips of the season and has cost us a lot of money in petrol only for us to have to go up there again.”