IN what must rank as one of the soggiest and most frustrating seasons on record, our rearranged game against Winchester City, scheduled for Tuesday, March 26, has been postponed for the third time.
A familiar tale of heavy rain beating the sterling efforts of our volunteer groundstaff and supporters to render the Ladysmead surface playable was confirmed by a lunchtime pitch inspection.
The match was originally scheduled to be played on February 10, only to be postponed because of a water-heavy pitch.
The original rearrangement also had to be rearranged, with - again - the pitch failing to pass a pitch inspection on February 27.
As a well as starving home supporters of games, the rain has severely affected the club’s cashflow and built up a backlog of home matches to be played before the end of the season, with six of our final nine games scheduled for the Ian Moorcroft Stadium before the end of April.
Games between Tivvy and the Citizens have been fraught with difficulty this season. The fixture in Hampshire was postponed twice.
The original date, Saturday, September 30, was ruled out because of Winchester's involvement in the third qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup.
A subsequent attempt to play the game, on Tuesday, December 12, was postponed
after the rain sodden playing surface at the Simplyhealth City Ground failed to pass muster at an afternoon inspection.
When the match was eventually played, on January 30, Winchester won 2-1 despite Yellows taking the lead through Joe Parker and goalkeeper Zak Baker saving a penalty.