IAN Evatt believes referee Ben Toner had no choice but to postpone this afternoon’s game at Salford City.

Match officials declared the pitch waterlogged at 1.45pm, meaning Bolton have now seen their last two matches claimed by the weather.

But unlike last Tuesday night, where Evatt was upset that Mansfield had not cancelled the match earlier, the Wanderers boss had no complaints this time around.

“We all wanted the game on but you can see with your own eyes that the pitch just isn’t playable,” he said.

“We are in the lap of the Gods with the weather at the minute but you could see by the roll and bounce of the ball, it just wasn’t happening. A team like us that try to play football, it was just going to be a complete lottery, especially as there is more rain forecast. The referee has made the right call, I think.”

Salford had postponed their midweek game and have had drainage problems with two areas of the pitch, either side of the halfwaay line.

Officials inspected the playing surface at least three times after lunch but the final call was made by ref Toner as the rain once again started to fall on Moor Lane.

Evatt explained: “I know (Salford boss) Richie Wellens well and when I got here today I went out to look at the pitch I went back in to say him and said ‘I’d be amazed if this game is on.’ “Richie said: ‘Really? I have been told all day it would be on but I’ve tried not to get involved myself.

“The ref said he was looking at the pitch at 1.45pm and to be fair to the Salford ground staff they put a good shift in to try and get the game on, they were doing their best.

“But, for me, we’d have been better off tossing a coin on a pitch like that to decide who wins, you couldn’t play football on it. And the conditions were only going to get worse because the forecast is heavy.”

Wanderers have 21 games to play in League Two, with the scheduled end of the campaign now just 91 days away.

The Mansfield match has now been moved to February 16 but there is not a vacant Tuesday night slot for the Salford fixture for a few weeks.

Evatt is concerned about the backlog but believes he will have the squad to cope after some good business in the January window.

“The benefit now is that we now have a bigger and more competitive squad so hopefully we can cope with it but, no, it’s definitely not ideal,” he said.

“We are jumping back on to the coach now and heading back up to Lostock to train.”