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EFL to review Rotherham vs Cardiff abandonment

The English Football League (EFL) will review the events that caused the Championship match between Rotherham and Cardiff City to be abandoned.

Jaden Philogene scored to put Cardiff in the lead 1-0, but the Championship game was called off in the 47th minute due to an unplayable pitch caused by heavy rainfall at New York Stadium.

Referee Oliver Langford halted the match to give the field a chance to drain, but after a 45-minute delay and further assessment, the game was eventually postponed.

Rotherham issued a statement after the postponement, stating that the EFL would review the decision to call off the game, but no official comment has been made yet.

Cardiff appeared dissatisfied with the match’s abandonment, while Rotherham manager Matt Taylor acknowledged that the correct decision had been made but expressed sympathy for the visiting fans.

Commentator Dylan Griffiths said: “I came back to my seat after the half time interval and I’ve never seen so much rain and volume fall in such a short period of time, and we mentioned in commentary that the game could be in serious doubt.

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“However It was a shock to see that the sprinklers were on during the interval. The water wasn’t draining and the corner flag area to the right of our commentary position was particularly bad.

“There was much confusion around the ground, but I can understand Cardiff’s frustration as it took nearly 20 minutes for Rotherham’s ground staff to appear to try and clear the water, and even then, only a small number of staff were on the pitch.

“It is open for debate if the game could have continued had the response been sooner as the ball wasn’t bouncing during the pitch inspection at 16:45, but once the announcement came that the game was abandoned, the celebrations of the Rotherham fans around us just added to Cardiff’s pain.”

Furthermore, former Welsh footballer Nathan Blake added: “There wasn’t much that could’ve been done in fairness, but the sprinklers came on, There’s no way they knew the rain was going to come down like it did.

“Obviously it looks bad during the rain with the sprinklers on and one of the ground staff – pushing water off and pulling it back on.

“But it was a real deluge – the rest of the pitch was under water so it would’ve been difficult to play the game, the ball wasn’t going to roll or anything like that.

“I think the frustration for the Cardiff fans was probably the fact that for 15 to 20 minutes no one came out and tried to do anything at all about the pitch and then when they did one guy came out and then the second then the third.

“Then one guy with a fork trying to relieve some of the flooding but it was never going to happen, it was just one of those things – mother nature. It couldn’t be helped.

“Rotherham were far happier to have the game abandoned than Cardiff – Cardiff were trying to get it on and Rotherham were happy for it to be abandoned.

“Rotherham were happy because they had three or four of their main players out also, so everything was good for them to have the game abandoned but not so good for Cardiff in fairness.

“I would’ve thought that there would definitely be a replay for sure and Cardiff will be disappointed but they can still go there and win.

“But like I said, it was one of those situations where there was a long way to go for an abandoned game and things happen from time to time.”

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