CONCERNS over the lack of fixtures completed in the North Gloucestershire League have been raised by clubs who have played as little as seven or eight league games so far this season.

The inclement weather since November has decimated the Forest’s grassroots fixtures, with Premier Division sides Coleford United and Mitcheldean both having completed less than ten league matches.

United secretary Terry Smith is adamant the club will still challenge for the title and subsequent promotion to the Northern Senior League – as well as a tilt at the JO Roberts Cup – despite a fixture pile-up,

“The rain is what’s done it for us. It just doesn’t drain away from the pitch very quickly,” he said.

“We need to play all our remaining games by cup final day on May 21. So we’re just going to have to start playing midweek matches when the clocks change at the end of March.

“Hopefully with one or two midweek games as well as playing Saturday every week we should do it.

“In terms of ambitions this season we’re still going for the title. We’ve done well so far and there are still 19 games to play. That’s 57 points to play for so we can still do it.

“We got to the quarter finals of the County Cup, getting knocked out on penalties, we got to the senior final of the West Dean Charities, and we’re still in the semi-finals of the JO Roberts Cup.

“We’re optimistic; you’ve got to be positive. We’ve got a good team and with 12 or 13 Saturdays left of the season there’s no reason we can’t be successful.”

“Having so many games called off has meant that we’ve struggled to get a rhythm going a bit. We have training every week still but it’s just not quite the same atmosphere as a game day. It also means that some of the lads don’t get to see each other as much as we’d like to be performing as a unit.”

Kevin Brain, the league’s fixture secretary, addressed the worries on a Facebook post, saying: “We always used to play midweek at the start of the season and it wasn’t stopped because of the league.

“The feedback we got from secretaries is that teams don’t want to play midweek to start with. Also the same with starting the season earlier saying that players are still on holiday or playing cricket.

“I have seen a few posts now saying that more games could be played if fixtures were issued further in advance but I don’t see how it would help. By issuing on a shorter time scale it gives flexibility to try and ensure as many teams as possible are playing.

“Regardless of how far in advance fixtures are issued we can’t control the weather.”

Smith was supportive of the league’s work, adding: “I feel the league has done everything they can in the circumstances. When you get long periods of wet weather like we’ve had there’s not much anyone can do.”

“At the moment we train on the 3G, but moving our game days there would be unfeasible cost-wise. All we can do really is hope for better weather as far as the future’s concerned.”