TONY Mowbray admitted he had some sympathy for the underfire referee after his Middlesbrough side’s game at icy Ipswich was abandoned after just 37 minutes.

Referee Dean Whitestone was booed loudly by both sets of frustrated fans at a polar Portman Road on Saturday, as he made the controversial decision to call a halt to the npower Championship proceedings.

Even kicking off had been controversial. Ipswich had been gripped by Baltic overnight temperatures that touched minus 14 and never made it above zero.

The Northampton official had twice inspected the borderline pitch – protected from the worst of the weather by a huge plastic bubble – before kick-off and twice decided to go ahead.

But when his own linesman found it impossible to operate down the touchline and home skipper Ibrahim Sonko limped off with suspected broken ribs after slithering and falling heavily, the ref had no choice but to abandon the game.

Mowbray had every right to blast the ref after a wasted trip and the unneccessary action on a dangerous pitch – but instead insisted he was relaxed about the decision.

“On reflection it probably shouldn’t have been played,” the Boro boss said.

“But there is no anger on our part. The referee is a young guy who has had to make a tough call.

“Beforehand it was touch and go and it was a difficult decision to go ahead, but I wasn’t going to argue with it because we had made a long trip and the fans were already coming into the ground.

“Myself and (Ipswich boss) Paul Jewell had been there for the inspection at 11.15 in the morning under the huge plastic dome and the pitch seemed playable then.