Cooper can’t quite believe coronavirus is still wreaking havoc on football

Windsor boss Mark Cooper can’t quite believe that COVID19 is still wreaking havoc with the football calendar, nearly two years on from its unwanted arrival on these shores.

Saturday’s postponement of their home game with St Panteleimon due to cases in the Windsor camp, was an unwelcome reminder of the problems caused by coronavirus in nonleague football.

The past two campaigns have been ended early and declared null and void at step 5, and Cooper is desperate this season doesn’t go the same way.

He was especially keen to play on Saturday as Windsor had lost their last three matches, the most recent being the painful 2-1 defeat to local rivals Burnham.

The game against the Saints will be rescheduled for later in the season but a date is yet to be confirmed.

“We’re extremely frustrated as we want to play at any given opportunity, but we also understand that sometimes it’s not as simple as that,” said Cooper.

“It’s difficult to believe we’re back here in this position when everything was looking pretty positive. Hopefully this is just a short-term problem, and we can get back to normal things once this variant has swept through the country.

“I think we’ll probably see something after Christmas where a circuit break comes in for football, but hopefully by then a lot of people who have contracted the virus will be naturally out the other side.

“It’s fair to say that if we can continue as normal, we’d like to. But equally, if the powers that be decide there is going to be a 10-day or two-week break, then so be it.

“We’re not as fixture-heavy as the elite teams and, as it stands, there will be plenty of room in the diary to get the games rearranged and played.

“Our preference is to keep playing, but we will just sit patiently, be dictated to, and go with whatever decisions are made.”

Cooper remains hopeful Windsor’s festive clash with Virginia Water goes ahead as planned on Monday (December 27) but acknowledges the situation could change very quickly in the coming days.

“The most important thing at the moment is getting everyone through Christmas safely and we can hopefully play our match on the 27th,” he said

“But we will have to see where we are with the players, the staff, and with the Government restrictions.”