Snow joke if Rams suffer big backlog
ABIGAIL LEIGH
RA M S B O T T OM United joint managers Paul Fildes and Mark Fell admit that the poor weather over the coming weeks may affect his side’s end of season play-off hopes.
The Rams didn’t play last weekend after their home fixtures against Hyde United was postponed due to a snowbound pitch.
Bad weather conditions
‘We don’t want to have five or ten games in hand because it looks like a mountain to climb’
are likely to cause more problems to the Rossendale side over the coming weeks, possibly resulting in more postponed games, creating some fixture congestion.
The issue is considered a real concern to the club, especially since the side are still competing in the FA Trophy which may back log more league games. With that in mind, the joint-bosses are worried that a fixture pile up may take its toll on their side and their battle for promotion. ●● The snow-covered pitch at the Harry Williams Riverside Stadium meant the game against Hyde was postponed
“We’re still down at 15th place. We don’t want to have five or ten games in hand on people because it looks like a mountain to climb, we’d rather be up there and have played the games so we don’t get to the point around March when we’re having to play two to three games a week,” said Fell. “The club sat us down at the interview stages when we took the job and said they’ve had a taste of the league above, and they want it back.”
Fildes’ concern lies with the fact that they have already missed games due to the weather and so they will already need to catch up. However, he does reassure fans that despite also playing cup games, they have got a strong enough squad to do well in the league even if they do have to play catch up.
Since Fell and Fildes started at the club in the pre-season, they have brought in an entirely new squad with only one remaining player from the relegated side last season, and Fell is happy with the team they have assembled.
“It’s been a really positive start, we’re not as high up in the division as we want to be but we got over a tricky period when we got to the club and we genuinely feel like we’re making some real headway in terms of performance,” he said.
Whilst both managers are satisfied with the performance of their team, they still feel there is some room for improvement.