Hull City and Sheffield United's Championship games at home to Watford and Oxford United have been rearranged for the first week of February.

Both matches had been due to take place on January 4 only to be postponed because of frozen pitches.

The rearrangements mean Hull could now potentially play five consecutive home matches in February.

Their postponement was controversial because referee Anthony Backhouse deemed the playing surface suitable, but raised concerns about frozen areas around the side of the pitch, including where the linesman would be running.

The lateness of the decision – within 20 minutes of the scheduled kick-off – caused the Hornets to voice their frustrations in a club statement.

The players of both sides were warming up when the decision to call the game off was made.

A new date has been found, with the game now due to be played on February 3, at 7.45pm, the same time Hull and Oxford will try again. That is just over 24 hours after the transfer window closes, meaning all four sides will have their rejigged squads completed.

Watford and Hull are straddling the cut-off point for the Championship play-off places, with only goal difference keeping Sergej Jakirovic's side out of the top six at present.

POSTPONEMENT: Hull City's game against Watford was called off even though the pitch was deemed playable (Image: Ashley Allen/Getty Images)

placeholder image — POSTPONEMENT: Hull City's game against Watford was called off even though the pitch was deemed playable (Image: Ashley Allen/Getty Images)

Hull will lose another game against promotion wannabes in February because of their progress in the FA Cup.

Their penalty shoot-out victory over Blackburn Rovers means they will be hosting Liam Rosenior's Chelsea in the fourth round on the mid-February weekend they were due to face Ipswich Town.

Dates for both those games are still to be confirmed but at present Watford’s visit will be followed by home matches against Bristol City, Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers and Derby County.

For Sheffield United it is a good week to play a Tuesday night match as their following game, at home to Middlesbrough has been moved from Saturday to Monday so it can be shown live on Sky Sports.