Match referee Willie Collum declared the Tannadice pitch waterlogged just before 5.30pm with the Hamilton players well on their way to Tayside. Hamilton are understood to be furious with the late notice and are looking for compensation for the costs incurred. But Blair claimed they had to give the pitch a chance to dry out after the rain subsided in the afternoon.
United have only played 21 SPL games this season, with 12 to try to fit in before the league splits in two months' time. Blair told BBC Scotland: "With the fixture congestion, we need to allow games to have a reasonable chance to go ahead. We demonstrated that when there's no chance of a game going ahead we are happy to take an early decision.
"We cancelled the entire card on December 4 when it became clear there was no chance of games going ahead and we did it on the Thursday. If there had been two inches of snow on the park we might have taken the view to postpone the game without an inspection.
"We expected the improving conditions and we were hopeful they would improve so that the game would have gone ahead. With the information we had at the time, I still think it was the right decision.
"It's a marginal decision. Unfortunately with the weather we have, they are going to happen occasionally and there's not much we can do about that. If you have a cup game between Stranraer and Inverness, does that mean the latest point you can call it off is seven hours before the game? I don't think that's practical."
Source: PA
Source: PA