| Rain stops play at Vicarage Road as the the Watford pitch struggled to cope with the ever increasing flow of rain from an angry sky. Both managers seemed happy with the abandonment. |
 | I think it's raining |
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Emile Heskey had put the Latics into the lead with his strike against the run of play after 23 minutes. His excellent turn and shot found the bottom corner of the Watford goal.
Tamas Priskin equalised for the home side shortly before half time. He beat Arjan De Zeeuw to the ball and headed in, despite looking arguably offside.
Svetoslav Todorov and Denny Landzaat had goals cancelled out for the Latics but the inevitable happened after just 55 minutes of the game.
The rain, increasing in intensity throughout the afternoon, became too heavy for the Vicarage Road pitch. The drainage system couldn't cope and the playing surface was becoming dangerous.
After a brief consultation with fourth official Graham Poll, referee Steve Tanner called the players back into the changing rooms for ten minutes. During this ten minutes the pitch received some treatment, but it was clear that play would not continue and the game was abandoned.
Paul Jewell
"I think the right decision was made, but it was unfortunate when the supporters travelled a long way but there wasn't really any other option.
"You just couldn't really play out there, and it wouldn't have been sensible if we had continued. It would not have been good if we had lost the game or we had an injury occurred because of the farcical conditions, so we will come back another day."
Aidy Bothroyd
"It was the right decision. I had no doubt about that. Everyone could see that it was dangerous for the players and the game could have become a farce.
"People pay good money to come and watch these games and it wouldn't have been fair on those who travelled from Wigan and our fans to have continued in these circumstances.
"In these situations, the first concern is always the well-being of the players and, bearing that in mind, I don't think the ref had any choice.
Referee Steve Tanner
"At half-time we discussed what the possibilities were if the heavens did open, and lo and behold they did, and the most important thing is player safety.
"You could see sometimes when the ball was being passed, it wasn't rolling. In my opinion player safety could have been put at risk if we continued to play."
Match Pitctures
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Re-arranged date
Supporters who attended the fixture are advised to keep hold of their ticket stubs and regularly check both clubs' websites for updates. |
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