FED FEELING STRAIN OF A WET SPELL

DUNSTON UTS co-chairmen Tony Cleugh and Billy Irwin believe the Northern Premier League club are suffering on and off the pitch after another fixture fell victim to a postponement.

The persistent wet weather conditions that have battered the North East in recent months have limited the former Northern League champions and FA Vase winners to just five home fixtures since the middle of October.

With work on their UTS Stadium pitch currently ongoing and the unwavering commitment of volunteers being pushed to its limits, Dunston were left frustrated once again in midweek when they were subjected to a last-minute postponement in a planned home game with Sheffield.

With talks with the Northern Premier League ongoing, Dunston have rescheduled Tuesday’s ‘home’ game to Consett’s Belle View – but Cleugh has warned the prospect of moving further home games elsewhere has left him worrying for his club’s welfare.

“I don’t know what more we can physically do to get a game on at this place,” he told The NLP.

“We have played a lot of games on the pitch this season, we know what condition the pitch has been in, and this, we have played on far worse. Saying far worse makes it’s sounds as if we’ve played on boggy fields but there’s about five percent that is boggy.

“(Revenue) is crucial. We are a not-for-profit organisation, we don’t run the club so we have shareholders who are taking money out of the club at the end of the season. The only income, apart from sponsorship, is from the gates, from the bar and from merchandise and the food cabin.

“Midweekers aren’t the best, but what’s been happening is games are called off on a Saturday, and they’ll be played midweek where we get around 25 percent of the turnover. It’s very worrying times for the club.”

The latest postponement has also put a halt on the momentum built up by Jon McDonald’s side as they push for what would be Dunston’s first ever promotion into step three.

As it stood ahead of Saturday’s visit to North Ferriby, Dunston were sat in third place in the table after losing just one of their last 14 games.

For club legend Irwin, it is understandable why the frustration experienced by the club’s officials has been replicated by their playing and coaching staff.

He said: “We still have two or three spare weeks but we are on a good run and it’s not just frustrating for the committee, it’s frustrating for the players as well.

“They’re on a good run, we’ve been beaten once in 14 games and we are looking to get in the play-off mix.”