Newport County’s chance to play the League Two leaders disappeared in the rain, but they have another chance next Saturday.

Their home match against MK Dons was postponed because of heavy rain and Lincoln City took over at the top thanks to a 3-1 win against Morecambe.

Newport’s next fixture is against Lincoln at Sincil Bank next Saturday (3pm).

Referee Nicholas Kinseley opted to postpone Newport’s fixture against MK Dons and manager Michael Flynn said: “We wanted the game to go ahead, of course, but the referee handled it superbly.

“He was professional and gave it every chance, but with the rainfall we had there were puddles on the pitch.

“From a players’ safety point of view it is the right decision.”

Heavy rain overnight on Friday and Saturday morning cast doubt over the fixture, but the match was set to go ahead after a pitch inspection at 1.20pm.

Further heavy showers led to standing water on the surface and the match was officially postponed at 2.40pm.

Newport have three fixtures left in 2019. They follow the trip to Lincoln with back-to-back home matches against Forest Green Rovers on Boxing Day and Crawley Town on Saturday, December 29.

“There was a big downpour at around 2.30pm and it wasn’t going to stop for a few hours,” said Flynn.

“The last thing we wanted was to start the game and then get it called off halfway through. I don’t think it does anyone any favours, especially the supporters who have long journeys home.

“You can’t blame anyone, or the pitch. The pitch looked fantastic, but there were just areas where there was standing water.

“This gives us the chance to have a behind closed doors game on Tuesday, or something like that.

“We might just have to go through a few things before we play Lincoln next weekend.”