BOTH managers could do little more than chuckle about it after a crazy match between Maldon & Tiptree and Burnham Ramblers was abandoned at half-time in Saturday's downpour.
Maldon boss Terry Spillane admitted he had "never been involved in a game like it", while opposite number Keith Wilson described it as "mental stuff".
The visitors led the clash – the first competitive match between the two sides in 17 years – 4-3 at the break, having been 3-0 after just eight minutes.
But the heavens opened and after a 15-minute delay to the start of the second half, the referee had little choice but to abandon the game as heavy rain beset the area.
Spillane said: "It was like Billy Smart's Circus, I think that just about sums it up for both teams.
"I'm getting on a bit and that's the funniest game of football I've ever seen.
"I can call it funny because we didn't lose in it.
"I don't know how to describe it! It reminded me of when I was at school and you used to have 20-a-side, all-in, it was one of them, you score, we score and so on."
But he refused to blame the conditions for his side's defensive showing – and insisted there were positives as they then kept a clean sheet to draw 0-0 at Heybridge Swifts on Monday.
"It was just comical," he said. "We couldn't defend and nor could they.
"We were 4-3 down at half-time, but three of the goals they had scored were worldies, and to be fair so were a couple of ours.
"It was nothing to do with the conditions, it was bad defending but some great finishing, there were some spectacular goals.
"So to go in on Monday and get our first clean sheet was very pleasing, it's nice when things pay off.
"I don't know if my heart would have been able to take another 45 minutes on Saturday.
"It was just a strange day all round, I've never seen rain like that in my life, never been involved in a game of football like it in my life.
"I think we did gain something from it because without that I don't think we would have played so well at our local rivals, so I take positives out of it in that respect."
Burnham boss Wilson took a more sympathetic view towards the defenders in the game, and admitted it was the right decision to call the game off.
"It was not conducive to defending," he said. "And being a defender myself, I could say it was definitely in favour of the attacking.
"It was pretty mental stuff, three up in eight minutes, 4-2 after 20 and then the heavens really did open – it resembled a boating lake by the time we finished half-time.
"It was the right decision. We could have started the second half, it was really heavy, but we could have started.
"But as soon as we didn't start, it was never going to go on.
"It was disappointing, we were in front but whether we'd have won, you can't tell.
"We played some really good stuff, it is disappointing to not finish a game whilst winning at half-time, but it's one of those things.
"We wanted a reaction from the previous two games, we got that and then we carried that on into Monday as well when we beat Waltham Forest."
