CHORLEY saw their hopes of topping the Northern Premier League table suffer a blow after their match against basement club Leyland was abandoned on Saturday.

Although the day was fine and bright, the match could not start as the outfield was saturated following heavy rain the previous night and during the week.

The abandonment caused dismay to the many spectators who had turned up expecting the match to be played but the with outfield refusing to dry out the umpires were froced to abandon the game at 4.10pm.

It also raised fears about the state of the palying area at Windsor Park which has suffred from drainage problems in previous years.

The washout was decribed as as "extremely dissapointing" by Chorley skipper Jim Fazackerly

"We were expecting to win this one as Leyand are struggling this season and we regard it as 11 points lost."

"It was a shame for the spectators and for us not to get a game particularly as the pitch itself was playable, but part of the outfield was still very wet.

"There is a lot of moss on parts of the field which soaks up the moisture and takes ages to dry out.

"The state of the field is a worry but the ground staff have worked with improving the drainage and there are plans for more work to be carried out soon but there is only so much you can do during the season."

The skipper had no excuses for Chorley's 62 run defeat at Darwen. He said" Our batting was abysmal. It was a very slow pitch but our bowlers did well to restrict the home side to 153 which was a challenging target but not a tough one.

"But we just never got any partnerships going and too many batsmen gave their wickets away.

"I am confident, though, that we get back to winning ways on Saturday at Lancaster."