Andrew Warshaw explains how bad weather and remote refereeing has created a fixtures headache for Enfield Town FC

The Dave Bryant Stadium pitch pictured on Saturday, 14th February, before that day's match was postponed — The Dave Bryant Stadium pitch pictured on Saturday, 14th February, before that day’s match was postponed

Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday. No let-up. No respite.

With the exception of one midweek break, this is the punishing schedule facing Enfield Town in March because of the unprecedented amount of rainfall that has caused a spate of postponements as the club builds towards the business end of the season.

At the time of writing, the strugglers Towners, desperate to pull off a second successive survival act, were facing a nightmare scenario of eight games in four weeks – and that’s not taking into account potential further postponements that could eat into the April finale.

It’s a tall order even for full-time teams who make up a large chunk of the National League South division, let alone part-timers who only train twice a week – or even just once, if Tuesdays are taken up playing matches.

“It could be our saviour or it could kill us,” conceded Town manager Gavin Macpherson, who is having to use every ounce of his management ability to negotiate a tortuous programme.

“When you only train twice a week, clearly this sort of schedule makes life much harder. I trust my squad but if we have an injury crisis, we’ll be in trouble. It’s obviously more of an advantage if you’re full-time. There’s a reason why these teams generally flourish.”

One of the games that is having to be rescheduled is the home fixture against Dover Athletic, which was originally due to be played on Saturday, 14th February. Club officials, management, players and fans alike are still shaking their heads at the staggering decision by the referee to postpone the game from the comfort of his own home – on one of February’s rare bright and sunny days.

Town’s pitch had been passed perfectly fit by a local step two referee who conducted a precautionary inspection before passing his findings to the match referee. The ultimate decision was then taken based on photographic and video evidence without the match ref himself visiting the club to check in person. It was the only game in the entire division postponed on that particular day, and is now scheduled to be replayed on Tuesday, 24th March.

To make matters worse, this was the same referee who, equally controversially in early December, called off Town’s original Hampton and Richmond game (which still hasn’t been played after two further postponements and is now scheduled for Tuesday, 3rd March).

With home match postponements there is also the knock-on effect of having lost thousands of pounds in Saturday matchday revenue and bar takings, which are invariably far more profitable than a midweek evening.

With an already-stretched squad now having to cope with a further extension of an unenviable fixture pile-up, keeping players injury-free will be vital in the weeks ahead, when every game is a virtual cup final – as the old cliché goes.

“It’s hugely demanding on the lads and we have to try and constantly keep them fresh,” said Gavin. “Hopefully we had our injury crisis back around Harborough in the [FA] Trophy in November time, but sometimes there’s a huge element of luck involved.”

While part-time teams in the division undoubtedly have more difficulty in dealing with such an intensive programme, togetherness is all-important.

“It breeds a team environment, especially when you’re a smaller club than others at this level,” said Gavin. “We understand what we can and can’t do; what we can do is build a team mentality.

“The difference between this season and last is that the league is much stronger in terms of finance and structure, but we can’t allow one bad result from now on deflect from what we are trying to do, because we are looking at the end game.

“I like what we are, I like the underdog tag. This should galvanise us. We want to chip away at the margins that exist at the moment in order to pressurise the teams in and around us. The plan is to go into April giving ourselves a real chance.”

Towners’ hopes of survival received a significant boost in late February with a 5-0 thrashing away at relegation rivals Farnborough, leaving Enfield just one point inside the bottom-four. Another huge ‘six pointer’ is due to be played today (Saturday 28^th) against Bath City.

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