Everton boss Brian Sorensen has called on clubs to "look inside" themselves and "do better" following a series of controversial postponements in the Women's Super League.
The Blues kicked off against West Ham an hour later than billed on Sunday to enable the pitch at Walton Hall Park to defrost and ensure the game could be played safely. However, Everton's meeting with the Hammers was just one of three WSL games to get the go ahead over the weekend, with a further three games called off due to the icy weather.
While Tottenham's match against Leicester and Brighton's meeting with Arsenal were both called off in advance of kick off, Liverpool's clash with Chelsea was abandoned with less than seven minutes on the clock due to a frozen pitch at Kingsmeadow.
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"It is (frustrating)," Sorensen said, reflecting on Sunday's flurry of postponements. "The last couple of days we have also been like: 'Are we going to play? Are we not?' because this pitch was frozen two days ago.
"I think overall it can be better but we also know that it’s not going to change tomorrow. It’s something we need to plan and build for to have a better structure around it.
"If you look at our pitch, it doesn't have any heating but it’s probably one of the best quality ones in the league which is good but when the weather is as it is now it’s a problem. I think all the clubs need to look inside and see if we can do better."
Everton have already fallen foul of a last minute postponement this season, when their WSL meeting with Spurs at Brisbane Road was called off less than three hours before kick-off in November. That decision sparked frustration among players and fans alike, with many questioning why incidents of this nature are still happening in the top-flight of the women's game.
On that occasion, Everton stars Izzy Christiansen and Megan Finnigan were among those who took to social media to voice their disappointment, noting that postponing games at short notice doesn't bode well for the professionalism of the women's game.
It was a similar story on Sunday, with Liverpool striker Katie Stengel and defender Megan Campbell taking a swipe at the way officials handled the situation at Kingsmeadow. The Football Association and WSL said the referee had initially deemed the pitch unplayable following an inspection at 9.30am but changed that decision after a second inspection before the players' warm-up, after a pitch cover and heaters had been used.
However, after a number of players found themselves slipping on the icy turf, referee Paul Howard made the decision to abandon the match in order to protect player safety.
Following the decision, Liverpool manager Matt Beard told BBC Sport: "They said about the players slipping on several occasions. Both players from both sides have slipped. Like I said before, the game should have never gone ahead.
"I don't know why it took six or seven minutes to find out, it was frozen this morning, and frozen in warm up. I'm gutted for our fans, they set off at 5am this morning. Whoever makes the decision for the game to be on, it put players at risk today."
The turn of events at Kingsmeadow sparked outrage among a host of leading voices in the women's game, with Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema taking to Twitter to note that player safety "should always come first" and the "only way to fix" the issue of late postponements is for club's to deman undersoil heating or to play their games in men’s stadiums.
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