I can personally assure you, nobody was more upset than myself yesterday about the game not being played.

I arrived at the ground yesterday just after 9.00AM after Chris Kelly and it is my opinion that even if the game had been played at 3.00PM the pitch would not have been playable.

Neither Steve Sedgley nor John Rains were happy with the state of the pitch and put their views forward to the referee about the health and safety of both of their sets of players.

I will provisionally arrange a new date for the match by Saturday, which will then be agreed with Steve Sedgley and Kim Harris. I will then speak with Sutton United and ensure that the new date is acceptable to all.

Chapple is back on familiar ground by Walter Gammie

GEOFF CHAPPLE has no sooner got his feet back under the table at Kingfield than his immediate past comes back to haunt him, with the draw for the third round of the FA Umbro Trophy pairing Woking against Kingstonian.

Chapple has been acknowledged as the king of the competition after leading the Surrey clubs to a total of five Trophy victories at Wembley, kicking off with Wokings triumphs in 1994, 1995 and 1997 before moving to work his magic at Kingstonian, who won in 1999 and 2000.

His departure from management after Kingstonian slid to relegation from the Nationwide Conference last season was brought to an end last month when he answered the call to return to a Woking camp reeling from being knocked out of the FA Cup by Newport County.

With Woking shareholders being asked to vote on a change of constitution that would allow a millionaire backer who is waiting in the wings to take over the club, Chapple may have the chance to fulfil his dream of leading Woking to the Nationwide League. For the time being, his task has been to grind out results to keep Woking out of relegation trouble and to prune a top-heavy playing staff in the face of rising losses.

Kingstonians season, too, foundered on cup defeat, their humiliation away to Brockenhurst leading to the end of the short-lived reign of Bill Williams, the revelation of debts substantial enough to send the club into administration, and the departure of most of their senior contracted players.

Upheaval has subsided in recent weeks even though the club has been told by the Conference that it will not be allowed to offer a temporary home to Farnborough Town and Steve Sedgley, the coach who took over as manager, has fashioned an improved run of form in the Ryman League and took Kingstonian to a thumping 6-2 win over Cirencester Town in the Trophy on Saturday.