Derby County v Cardiff City postponement 'disgraceful' - Neil Warnock

Cardiff have now had two matches postponed in March, away to both Brentford and Derby

Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock has called the postponing of his side's game against Derby County a "disgrace".

Cardiff's fixture at Pride Park was called off because areas surrounding the stadium were deemed unsafe.

"We got to the ground and the car park was clear, the pitch was perfect. Absolutely disgraceful really," said Warnock.

A new date has not been announced, but it is likely to be in April because of the upcoming international break.

Derby County currently sit fifth in the Championship, 14 points behind Cardiff

Warnock suggested that Derby, who had been hit with an injury crisis in the build-up to the match, welcomed the postponement.

"All week I have listened to comments from Derby, they have all been negative, and that's before the snow came down," he said.

"They have been talking about the injury situation, yesterday the manager Gary [Rowett] said they only had 10 players training and if they could get away with this weekend's game, they would be fine.

"Things like that should be looked into.

"All the lads were raring to go and looking forward to it, but you can't blame Derby for wanting it off - you wouldn't want to play us at the moment."

Derby County posted a picture of their stadium on social media

The English Football League tweeted a statement saying: "The decision to postpone this afternoon's fixture between Derby County and Cardiff City was made first thing this morning following discussions between Derby County, Derbyshire Police and the local Safety Advisory Group (SAG).

"It was taken in the interests of spectator safety following heavy overnight snow falling in the Derby area which had built up on the roads surrounding the stadium.

"An announcement was made at 8.30am and the EFL is satisfied from the information shared that these were the reasons the match was postponed and will provide Cardiff City with the opportunity to provide any additional information they feel is relevant, before responding further."

'A complete shambles'

Victory against Derby would have seen Warnock's side move 10 points clear of third-place Fulham

International break aside, Cardiff have an almost fully-booked fixture list in April, with the next available date for a match likely to be Tuesday, 17 April.

However, Warnock told BBC Sport Wales he would prefer the game to take place even later than that.

"It's a complete shambles and we're on the end of that," said Warnock.

"The Football League now will try to make us play on the first available date which will be 17 April.

"That means we would go to Aston Villa on a Tuesday, Norwich on the Saturday and then Derby on the Tuesday, which is another disgrace.

"If it is replayed, it should be on the 24 April after we have had a home game."