Washout leaves Sleaford Town face mounting fixture backlog

Town’s joint-top scorer Liam Tunstall is keen to get on the pitch to extend his goal tally

Waterlogged pitches did for both last Wednesday’s home clash with Harborough and Saturday’s trip to fellow strugglers Desborough in Town’s battle to preserve their United Counties League Premier status.

Town now face two matches a week throughout March - nine in total – as they attempt to get their 14 remaining league games played before the April 25 season cut-off.

The potentially decisive Desborough clash has been put back to Tuesday, March 31, while the Harborough fixture has been rearranged for Wednesday, March 18.

Taking a hit on midweek training is not the only knock-on effect that Sleaford Town boss manager Jamie Shaw and grassroots managers around the country are facing.

“We will be unable to train for the next four weeks, but there is also the issue with players not always being available due to work commitments,” he explained.

“However, this is the same for all clubs at this level, so we will deal with it accordingly.

“The other issue is the uncertainty on every match day, and the time and effort that has to go into arranging Step Five referees for pitch inspections, while also being conscious of the away team and their travelling.

“This is particularly an issue with midweek matches because referees obviously have day jobs, too.”

A dry few days should mean tonight’s (Wednesday) clash at Eslaforde Park against Rothwell (ko 7.45pm) goes ahead, as will Saturday’s trip to the 3G pitch of leaders Quorn FC.

While Shaw is aware of the scale of Town’s task to get anything in Leicestershire, he is also keen to right a few wrongs against Rothwell following their 5-0 drubbing last month.

“We will hope to give a better account of ourselves than at the start of February when they outbattled and outplayed us and beat us comprehensively,” he said.

“I believe Quorn have only been beaten on their pitch once this season.

“They will be right there in the title mix come the end of the season and have some players who definitely are capable of playing at a higher level.

“But we will go there and try to nullify their threats and also cause problems ourselves.”s