GRIMSBY Town director John Fenty revealed Saturday's postponement was a double blow which hit the club's cash flow and also threatens to contribute towards fixture mayhem.

The former chairman said that the effects of the Blundell Park clash with York being called off amounts to "tens of thousands of pounds".

And potentially more damaging, the Mariners are close to being faced with a jam-packed fixture list as the business end of the season approaches.

With Town doing well in league and cup, Mr Fenty has his fingers crossed that Mother Nature will loosen her icy grip on the country and there will be no further disruptions to games.

He said: "Home games are vital to our cash flow. As well as the rearrangement likely to be on a Tuesday night when we would get a lower gate, there are the associated costs with the postponed game that still have to be paid.

"You have to pay for the referee who officially calls the match off and we also still incur some police costs.

"Altogether it will amount to tens of thousands of pounds lost.

"As well as the financial impact, perhaps more important is the possible fixture congestion. We hope our cup run will continue and we are all set up for a very exciting end to the season.

"But there is the chance with all the rearranged games that there will be fixture congestion as the season goes on."

Mr Fenty agreed that there is the possibility of having to play three times in a week in the closing weeks of the season if there is any more disruption.

The financial and logistical impact of having the match called off explains why the club tried so hard to get it on.

After an appeal the previous day, dozens of fans turned up at the crack of dawn with their spades and shovels on Saturday morning to help.

Mr Fenty continued: "On the Friday we had all the hope in the world that the game would be on.

"The temperature was around zero and we thought the afternoon sun may assist us.

"Then, at 7am on Saturday morning, when I arrived at the ground there were already 40 or 50 people waiting with spades to help clear the snow of the pitch.

"It was a tremendous turn-out and an admirable effort.

"But once we started to scratch the surface we saw it was futile.

"The pitch was not badly frozen as we had purposely left a layer of snow on to insulate it.

"But when we scratched away, because the air temperature was so low on Saturday morning, the ground started to freeze as soon as it was uncovered.

"The renewed forecast for the rest of the day was for zero or sub-zero temperatures, so our efforts were in vain.

"If it had been above zero, we could have got some water on the pitch from our bore holes to help."

Grimsby Town v York City postponed due to frozen pitch