Stanley chief executive Rob Heys admitted that mistakes were made on Saturday – and the club will learn from them.
Stanley didn’t cover all the pitch on Friday night, meaning Saturday’s clash with Barnet was in doubt up until around 90 minutes before the game.
There was one strip, under the main stand, which was frozen. Referee Andy Haines passed it fit after an inspection but Bees boss Lawrie Sanchez called it ‘unplayable’ despite his side walking away with the three points.
"Like Coley takes charge of things on the pitch, my responsibility is off it and mistakes were made," said the Reds chief executive. "The temperature said minus one which would have meant covers weren’t needed but, as it was, it was significantly colder and we should have protected the pitch better.
"At the end of the day, the referee said it was playable but it wasn’t conducive to Accrington Stanley’s style of passing football and I apologised to Coley after the match.
"Whether it cost us the three points or not, I don’t know, but it certainly didn’t help us and in future we will do things differently.
"It was a lesson learnt for everyone at the club."
