Luton Town 0 York City 0: Minstermen fans in M1 chaos after abandoned game

York City's players and supporters were involved in a nightmare nine-hour journey along the M1 back to York after the controversial decision to go ahead with the game at Kenilworth Road.

The pitch had been covered overnight and was perfectly playable as both managers agreed for the noon kick-off following hard work by the ground staff.

However, the problem was that the weather forecast was for a huge band of heavy snow to hit the area. It arrived at 1pm and 10 minutes into the second half Halesowen referee Andy Hendley conferred with York manager Gary Mills and Luton's Richard Money before calling the game off.

While sympathising with Luton officials, who were obviously keen to receive the income from an all ticket attendance, the question has to be asked about whether due regard had been paid to the travelling public, many of whom were then caught up in the worst conditions within living memory with six inches (15 cms) of snow falling in 45 minutes of the final whistle.

The M1 between junctions 1 and 15 were virtually impassable with jack-knived lorries and abandoned cars causing monumental hold-ups.

The 40-mile journey from Luton to Northampton took five-and-a-half hours before the snow belt ended north of junction 15 and the rest of the journey was made in normal time.

All of which was a pity, as before the referee's final whistle two good teams had put on a fine exhibition of football and the stage was set for an excellent contest.

Michael Rankine had missed a great chance for York, heading over from Ashley Chambers's free kick, while Luton, who had been denied what appeared a clear penalty when Danny Parslow tackled Andy Drury, were unlucky when Drury's 25-yard free kick hit the bar with Michael Ingham beaten.

Mills, who sprung a surprise by switching left-back James Meredith to left wing with the recalled Chris Caruthers moving in the opposite direction, saw his team have the better of the first half which caused Money to change his tactics after the break.

Mills said: "On reflection, perhaps the match should not have gone ahead. Although the pitch was playable at the start the forecast was very bad and just after half-time you could hardly see across the ground.

"It was disappointing because all the signs were for a great game between two well-matched teams."

Luton Town: Tyler; Asafu-Adjaye, Kroca, Pilkington, Howells; Gnakpa, Drury, Morgan-Smith, Barnes-Holmer, Crow (Poku 46). Unused substitutes: Hinton, J Walker, Lacey, D Walker.

York City: Ingham; Parslow, McGurk, C Smith, Carruthers; Barrett, J Smith, Weir; Chambers, Rankine, Meredith. Unused substitutes: Sangare, Fyfield, McDermott, Constantine, Boucaud.

Referee: A Hendley (Halesowen).