Snow go for sport

Heavy snowfalls have wreaked havoc with this week's sporting programme with a number of fixtures called off on Monday.

Arsenal's FA Cup fourth-round replay against Cardiff on Tuesday night is the highest profile footballing casualty with the Gunners acting early in the morning to postpone the match at the Emirates Stadium.

After discussions involving Arsenal, Cardiff and the Football Association, it was decided the game will now be played on Saturday, February 14 at 1.30pm.

A number of other matches have also fallen victim to the adverse conditions, including Crystal Palace v Birmingham and QPR v Swansea in the Coca-Cola Championship.

Three games have gone in League One; Carlisle v Hereford, Leyton Orient v Leeds and Millwall v Colchester, as well as three in League Two; Aldershot v Chesterfield, Dagenham & Redbridge v Bournemouth and Lincoln v Macclesfield.

Remarkably, north of the border, Inverurie Locos' Scottish Cup clash with Motherwell was due to go ahead at the fifth time of asking tonight.

The amateur side's Harlaw Park pitch passed an inspection, but the Scottish Football Association said they would monitor the situation throughout the day.

In racing, Tony McCoy's hopes of riding his 3,000th winner over jumps were again put on hold after this afternoon's meeting at Southwell was abandoned. A decision was made after an inspection at 7.30am.

McCoy has ridden 2,998 winners during his career, in which he has been 13-times champion jockey, but has been continually frustrated by abandonments over the past week. He had been due to ride three times at Southwell. The day's other meetings at Lingfield and Wolverhampton were also abandoned.