STEVE Cotterill insisted referee Graham Laws had no choice but to call off Burnley's New Year's Day game against Leicester City following freak weather conditions.

The Turf Moor pitch, which had been sodden before kick-off, quickly became waterlogged in monsoon conditions and a howling gale.

Only 19 minutes into what was fast becoming a lottery, the Tyne and Wear official called a halt to proceedings following consultations with both managers.

And Clarets boss Cotterill, whose side has now suffered two postponements over the traditionally busy festive period, admitted abandoning the game was the only option.

He said: "I know we had a lot of fans at the ground coming up with a chorus of boos, but in the cold light of day it was the right decision.

"It would have been easy to get a broken leg out there and then the referee has to live with that.

"When he came over, he said he wanted to call it off, so I spoke to (Leicester manager) Craig Levein and we both said we would support him."

Cotterill added: "I don't think our pitch has been the best this year anyway. We get to put reports in all the time and you can say whether the pitch is 'excellent', 'good' or 'satisfactory'.

"I normally tick 'satisfactory' all the time, but we can't do anything about that until next summer and in the meantime, the weather pays absolutely no attention to criticism.

"No matter how much we cursed it for about 20 minutes, it wasn't going to go away and I think you have to fully support the referee.

"It became a little bit farcical, so I think he made a wise decision."

Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen had already suffered a whack to the head after being forced to rush from goal to deny City's David Connolly as the ball stuck on the sodden surface.

And the game degenerated into farce moments later after City defender Martin Keown allowed the ball to roll out for a goal kick, only for chaos to ensue after it ground to a halt inside the six-yard box.

Referee Laws quickly called Clarets captain Frank Sinclair and opposite number Keown together and seemed content to allow the game to continue.

However, another stoppage seconds later as the weather deteriorated even further forced a re-think - and after a quick consultation with both managers, the game was hastily abandoned.

Laws later said: "At 3pm, the pitch was playable, even though it had rained beforehand.

"But once the injury happened to the Burnley goalkeeper, I began to get concerned.

"As we went on, a few players from both sides said it was getting dangerous and when the ball stopped it was time to talk to both managers, who both agreed the game should be abandoned."

City boss Levein added: "Nobody wants games to be called off, but it was becoming a lottery.

"The referee mentioned that he had a concern before the game kicked off, which is good refereeing.

"He tried to give it a chance and the idea was to see how it went.

"It was pretty obvious it was not going to clear up, so it was only a matter of when he was going to call it off.

"The goalkeeper got an injury when the ball stuck in the water, so I genuinely think he did the right thing."

All supporters should retain their ticket stubs for the game, which will be valid once a new date is announced.