We suspected that it must be waterlogging as the forecast had suggested there was going to be a lot of rain about - what a pain.
All was bright and sunny as we arrived at Bank Top - the odd AFC Wimbledon shirt on the train - and it was down to the Quaker where a good few AFCW fans were ensconced around the bar. Tony and Lesley were already in there though and had grabbed a table.
The selection of beers on offer included Nightmare Stout and First Footer from Hambleton, Mithril Ales Legs Eleven, Ossett Resolution, York Centurion's Ghost and Mature Toad and Golden Angel from the Toad Brewery plus the Allendale Swift which had been on earlier that week when we'd been in.
Neil, Brian and John then joined us as did more away fans so it was getting quite cosy in the small bar area. Finally we got confirmation that the game would be going ahead which brought cheers from most of those in the pub. Would it be a good thing?
After trying most of the beers on offer we decamped up to Number Twenty-2 whilst the away fans all headed off to the Britannia.
Whilst up in N22, Bev joined us and like us, she got stuck into the Nightmare Stout from Hambleton - one of our all time favourite stouts.
Our little mob were going to be in a executive box today as John was the latest winner of the season ticket draw, following in Tony's lucky footsteps. It will be interesting to see if I get drawn out - knowing my luck it will be for a midweek game!Presumably the burst pipes in the away end had been sorted as the AFCW fans were up there - probably about 300 which isn't bad going. Quite noisy too but then southerners do have big gobs.
(left) 'Wot me?' says Quinn as Hatch lies in a daze
As I went pitchside to get ready, it was clear that the pitch was not suffering from an excess of water but was in fact frozen. As I put up my trusty Millett's stool behind the goal line, the ground held solid even when I sat on it.
Today saw the debut of new signing Adam Quinn who would be playing alongside Ian Miller. He certainly had the look of an archetypal centre-back as he warmed up.
Up front Curtis Main was given the nod over Tommy Wright to partner Liam Hatch up front and he was to have quite a few chances again today - all unfortunately squandered or well saved by England C keeper Seb Brown.
Darlo had the majority of the play for the first half and seemed to be coping with the icy conditions just that little better that AFCW - the area in front of the dugouts looking to be the worst part with players slipping there but the rest of the pitch wasn't too bad.
At the back, Quinn had settled in well and was winning most headers, not just against Wimbledon forwards but also against Miller and Hatch, the latter coming off quite badly as he needed treatment for a clash of heads. Quinn seemed oblivious.
Sam Russell had a fairly quite start to the game - probably getting extremely cold feet like me - but just before the break he was called into action and made two excellent saves.
The second half was much the same - quite a cagey approach from Wimbledon - whilst Gary Smith and Mark B-W went close for Darlo.Main also had a few more chances - one was a header but that ended up in my direction rather than worrying their keeper.
(right) Curtis Main heads the ball towards a hairy snapper
It was quite noticeable that in the last twenty minutes of the game, the pitch started to deteriorate quite badly and players began to slip all over the pitch.
Tommy Wright replaced Main with a quarter of an hour to go but fared no better whilst at the death Hatch was inches away from getting on the end of a Verma cross. Just one of those days.
All in all, it was probably two points dropped given the way we dominated the game and overall we should be pleased to have taken four points off the top team - could so easily have been six though which would have been a real boost.
It was also good to see that both managers be prepared to play the game even though the pitch was not ideal. Given the current backlog though, I'm sure neither wanted to put this game off.
Today we found ourselves on a later train back to London which allowed us another visit to the Quaker. John, Bev and I walked there, trying to warm up our frozen feet, but were beaten to the bar by Martin who'd been given a lift.
The place was quite busy - a few AFCW fans had also returned - but the place soon became very crowded when a large horde of Notts County fans popped in, fresh from their FA Cup win over Sunderland. Seems a bit of an odd place to drop into on your way back to Nottingham but they were happy to be there.
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