Tonight's Carlisle United match against Harrogate Town was cancelled because of a power cut.

The home club said a local power outage had left "areas of the ground" without power - including the floodlights.

The lights went out at about 5pm and the League Two game was officially called off about two hours later.

The match had been due to kick off at 7pm but the evening's events mean United will now have to return to north Yorkshire a THIRD time.

Tonight's game was due to be a rearranged fixture after their December 29 meeting was abandoned after 10 minutes due to a frozen pitch.

Members of the media, including the News & Star, were asked to wait outside the ground when they arrived at the EnviroVent Stadium ahead of tonight's game.

Carlisle's players had also arrived but remained on the team coach as the situation developed.

The possibility of a delayed kick-off was discussed but officials also had concerns about the possible effect of falling temperatures on the pitch - which could not be inspected because of the lack of power and lights in the stadium.

Harrogate in a statement said the problem was "a local power outage affecting over 2,500 properties in the surrounding area".

The club added: "We were informed by Northern Power Grid that power may not be restored fully until 10.30pm this evening, meaning the fixture could not go ahead."