'Like an ice rink' - Chelsea Women's game against Liverpool called off after six minutes

Officials allowed the Women's Super League match to start, despite the pitch being frozen during the warm-up.

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And the call was made to bring the fixture to a halt moments into the match with the scoreline at Blues' ground level at 0-0.

Chelsea boss Emma Hayes stated that the game should never have went ahead in the first place.

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She told BBC Two: "You could see from the opening minutes that it was like an ice rink down the sides.

"[Liverpool boss] Matt Beard was upset that it even got to point and he's right.

"It's not for managers to decide if it's on - it's up to the FA and officials. We have to say to ourselves that it's time for undersoil heating.

"We've got to take our game seriously. Yes, we can have our blowers and pitch tents but it's not enough. The game should never have started."

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Speaking to talkSPORT's Ian Abrahams about whether the game should have started, Reds manager Beard said: "No. You could clearly see in the warm-up, it didn't take a stud.

"The far side was frozen and parts of the pitch. Where they've had the blowers on it and the heat on it, those parts of the pitch were OK.

"But it wasn't safe to play and especially when you see the forecast on all the games that were called off yesterday, like Sutton United here at 3pm as an example which is ten minutes up the road.

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"And today was probably colder, so it should never have happened. We've had fans that have set off at 5am this morning to come to the game and it could have been called off an 9.30am.

"It wasn't playable at 9:30am, so look, it is what it is, and I'm glad the referee made the right decision in the end."

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He continued: "At the end of the day it should have been called off this morning, we wanted to play the game because we travelled down yesterday.

"And we actually started the game really well! So that's frustrating, but it shouldn't have started."

Asked if it was embarrassing for the WSL that the game was stopped so early, Beard stated: "I don't know, look you've got to give Chelsea's ground staff credit.

"Because they've done everything to try and get the game on, but I think's telling when you're taking the covers off which interrupts the warm-up.

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"That's the frustrating thing, that our warm-up was delayed, we're still kicking off at the same time, and that's at no fault to our own.

"So I think there's a bigger picture here really which needs to be discussed, neither us or Chelsea should be in this position."

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