Southport v Spennymoor Town called off over boiler failure

A football club had "no option" but to call off a match after a boiler failure in the players' dressing rooms left them with no hot water for showers.

Southport said the National League North match against Spennymoor Town was postponed as the spare parts needed to fix the boiler were not available.

BBC Radio Merseyside's Neil Turner said he had never seen such a postponement in his 2,000 games commentating.

Apologising, the club said the game would now be played in April.

The issue caused amusement on social media, where Daniel, from Lancashire, asked "what's wrong with a cold shower?", while others suggested players shower at home.

Steven, from Liverpool, tweeted that "someone is in hot water", while Southport fan Collo said the club "could be described as a bit of a soap opera at the moment".

Mr Turner said he had seen extreme weather, a streaker and a medical episode cause a game to be postponed, but "never a boiler blowing up".

"I have never experienced this," he said.

In a statement, the club said "due to a boiler failure in the players' dressing rooms resulting in no hot water being available and the unavailability of the required parts to undertake the repair... we have been left with no option but to inform the National League and our opponents that tonight's home game against Spennymoor Town will have to be postponed".

They said the call was made "as early as possible to avoid unnecessary travel on the part of Spennymoor Town, the match officials and supporters, but nonetheless we regret any inconvenience caused".

They added that they were "confident that the necessary repairs will be completed in good time for Saturday's home fixture with Hereford".

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