Given the prevailing conditions and the circumstances neither cocked up.
The local referee's inspection being something like 5 hours prior to kick off was unlikely to result in a postponement unless there was going to be a very small percentage of a chance of the game being played and given the fact that Eastbourne were already fairly local (Tarporley) it was giving the game every chance. He did advise that there was an area which concerned him and suggested that Mr Harrington come a little earlier which he did.
Mr Harrington spent fifteen or twenty minutes minimum inspecting all the pitch even changing into his kit (including the boots he intended to wear for the match) before deciding that the area in the shade of the stand was unfit and to have played would have compromised the safety of those involved.