Hereford's coach Harry Pell took on a new role this afternoon at Macclesfield as a groundsman.
This happened before the second half got underway as the referee wasn't happy with a small section of the plastic pitch which was holding water.
Before the game kicked off the Macclesfield groundsman had used a sponge roller to mop up this section which was towards where the Hereford supporters, braving the wind and rain, were standing.
But at half-time nothing was done to mop up the water by Macclesfield. Maybe because at this stage Macclesfield were losing 1-0 and were down to 10 men?
So when the referee came out for the second half he looked at the water-logged area and decided to halt proceedings until action was taken by the Macclesfield ground staff.
But they appeared reluctant to do anything much about it. Then one of the Macclesfield staff went to the other end of the ground and found a broom with which he tried to brush the water off but to no avail.
The referee, to his credit, was not having this and spoke to both managers and staff. It's understood he said that he wanted the game to go ahead and would wait until work was undertook to get the worst of the water off the pitch.
At this stage Hereford chairman Chris Ammonds had noticed where two big red sponge brushes were kept and Harry Pell went to get one.
The Hereford coach rushed on the pitch and started to sponge the water into the container. A minute later he was joined by goal-keeping coach Shaun Edwards with the second sponge roller.
Soon the worst of the water had been removed, the referee then tested the area with a ball, watching how well it bounced, and directed the game should continue.
It's not thought Hereford will make any complaint about what happened but it's expected the referee will report the incident to the FA. No doubt the Hereford supporters will remember this game for many years to come not only for their 2-1 win but ten minutes of being shown how to use a sponge roller by Harry Pell and Shaun Edwards.
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