Burton Albion and Stafford Rangers have been forced to postpone today’s Boxing Day fixtures due to frozen pitches.
In the Evo Stik First Division South all fixtures have been called off for Leek Town, Newcastle Town and Kidsgrove Athletic, scheduled to be played tomorrow (December 27).
Harrison Park Pic: Hampton Productions
Only Stoke City‘s trip to Ewood Park to take on Blackburn Rovers will go ahead.
Weather permitting, Vale travel to Gillingham and Burton take on Stevenage at the Pirelli on December 28, Stafford Rangers have a home tie against Worcester and Stoke entertain Fulham at the Britannia Stadium.
Leek, Newcastle and Kidsgrove will have to wait until New Years Day before they next attempt to play.
Leek and Kidsgrove clash at the Seddon Stadium whilst Newcastle make the short trip to Market Drayton Town.
North Staffs Football brings you the news about games that have been called off as soon as we get it. Let us know your score predictions.
The Evo Stik First Division South will play their matches on December 27 where Leek Town host their match with Belper (34 days since they last kicked a ball) and Newcastle host a derby clash with Kidsgrove Athletic.
North Staffs Football will keep you informed of any postponements, but let us know your score predictions from our games.
The only action scheduled for this week is for our non-league side’s.
On Tuesday (December 21) Kidsgrove Athletic, Leek Town and Newcastle Town are all set to host matches but all are a major doubt with the second wave of the big freeze gripping the county.
Kidsgrove Athletic vs Romulus
Leek Town vs Market Drayton Town
Newcastle Town vs Glapwell
All matches are scheduled for a 7.45pm kick-off.
North Staffs Football will bring you the news over postponements as soon as we get it. Do football matches get called off too easily nowadays? Or not? Let North Staffs Football know.
To have a look at some of the pictures from the Emirates Stadium where Stoke City were due to play Arsenal click below.
Kidsgrove Athletic’s league match against Sutton Coldfield Town has fallen foul of the recent cold weather.
Kidsgrove Athletic
Dense freezing fog and lying snow on the Seddon Stadium gave no hope to fans, players and staff – as Peter Ward’s men face their third-successive postponed match.
It has been almost three weeks since Grove beat Belper Town in their last league match, and the side will have their fingers crossed for warmer weather if they are to get their pitch fit for Goole on Saturday (Dec 11).
The weekend’s cold snap, with below-freezing temperatures and snow for some caused havoc for Saturday football matches.
Officials across the county have had to call a number of games off due to frozen pitches as temperatures as low as minus 7C hit Staffordshire.
In the Evo-Stik First Division South, LeekTown‘s charity match against Glapwell was postponed as freezing weather in Mansfield left officials with no choice but to call the game off.
Cold snap puts a freeze on matches
Stafford Rangers ‘s match at Harrogate Town also fell foul to the weather and was cancelled following a pitch inspection at 8.30am on Saturday (November 27) morning due to a frozen pitch.
NewcastleTown‘s trip to Belper Town was cancelled after a 9.00am pitch inspection due to a frozen pitch – in which Belper’s ground was under four inches of snow.
Kidsgrove Athletic‘s match at Shepshed Dynamo was also ruled out after a 10.30am pitch inspection.
Stoke City kept their game on against Manchester City and salvaged a point at the Britannia Stadium thanks to Matthew Etherington’s injury-time goal.
After a goalless first-half the visitors looked to have nicked all three points through Micah Richards’s superb strike, but Etherington latched onto Tuncay Sanli’s back-heel to smash the ball into the net.
In League Two there was better news for Crewefans who made the trip to Lancashire-outfit Morecambe.
Clayton Donaldson fired Alex into an early lead four minutes in, and Byron Moore doubled the advantage on the stroke of half-time.
Morecambe halved the deficit through Chris Shuker but plaudits go to Alex stopper Rhys Taylor who saved Phil Jevons’s penalty to give Dario Gradi’s men all three points.
Burton Albion progressed to the lucrative third-round of the FA Cup with a 3-1 win at the Pirelli against Chesterfield.
Aaron Webster and Jacques Maghoma sent the Brewers into a 2-0 lead at half-time, but Chesterfield made it a nervy end after Jordan Bowery’s late strike.
The match was sealed though as James Collins broke past the visitors defence and curled the ball around the Spireites keeper.
Port Vale were in action on Friday night (November 26) but they scraped into the third-round as well with a 1-0 win over Accrington Stanley, thanks to Justin Richards’s first-half strike.
Newcastle Town‘s trip to Belper Town was cancelled after a 9.00am pitch inspection due to a frozen pitch.Belper’s ground was under four inches of snow.
Kidsgrove Athletic‘s match at Shepshed Dynamo has also been ruled out after a 10.30am pitch inspection.
Grove boss Peter Ward spoke to StaffsLive on his way to the game and said: “We expected the game to be off.
“The lads will be training this afternoon, but I can see us missing all next week’s games as well because this weather is set for at least ten days.”
Newcastle Town assistant manager Dorian Garner said their players will not be getting an easy afternoon though.
He added: “We’ve booked the hall at Newcastle College just in case this would happen and the players will have a bit of a sweat on when they finish later on.”
Burton Albion‘s second-round FA Cup match at the Pirelli Stadium against Chesterfield will go ahead and Stoke City’s clash with Manchester City is also expected to avoid any problems – both are a 3pm kick-off.
Kidsgrove Athletic boss Peter Ward described his side’s 1-0 loss to Romulus Tuesday night (Nov 9) as ‘absolutely atrocious’.
The Grove were unable to beat the Sutton Coldfield-based side who sat 20th before the game.
The defeat moves Ward’s men down to 9th in the Evo-Stik First Division South with a trip to Loughborough Dynamo’s on Saturday (Nov 13).
Ward said: “We can make excuses for the game, the pitch and missing a number of players but the fact is we played absolutely atrocious.
“I have been here for five years now and that is the worst performance I have seen from the lads.”
Key players Adam Beasley, Tim Sanders and Danny Schwartz were all sidelined as they push for a start at the weekend, but Ward stressed this is no excuse for the result.
He added: “I put out a good enough team to beat Romulus.
“I didn’t see much from them, but they worked a lot harder and wanted the win more than we did.”
Ward is down to a squad size of 13 at the moment and is looking to bring in some players over the coming weeks.
He said: “We have a limited squad, and we need a forward to hold the ball up so I am looking to bring someone in for that.
“We are having a good look around because there are still areas to improve on.”
Kidsgrove Athletic manager Peter Ward has fresh injury worries ahead of their clash with Brigg Town on Saturday (Nov 6).
Midfielder Adam Beasley had to leave the pitch in the 7-2 drubbing of Cammell Laird after a nasty lunge left him with a gash in his shin.
Ward said that he is a major doubt for Saturday’s match.
He added: “It was a nasty kick he got which drew blood.
“We have got to carry on with it, but they just tried to take him out of the game”.
Brigg Town, who sit seventh, were beaten 2-0 by Newcastle Town last weekend and also suffered a 2-1 defeat to Belper Town on Tuesday night (Nov 2).
Ward is hoping to take advantage of the visitors poor run of form.
He said: “We have a little bit of information on them which always helps.
“We know what they are about, they are a solid side but are on a bit of a bad patch at the moment which we hope to exploit”.
Ward is expected to include midfielder Tom Urwin in the squad after he showed no reaction to a reserve team match, but Danny Schwartz is still out for another week.
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