da pinnacle：
da betsson： There was no game for Macclesfield as the cold snap wiped out the greater portion of the lower leagues’ round of fixtures. Their Sixfields showdown was called off mid-morning due to a frozen pitch and thus offers a fortunate and welcome respite to the injury-plagued Silkmen. But while the week off is no doubt a positive, first I will have to indulge in a short rant on the manner in which the postponement was handled.
I can understand that teams in the lower leagues are loathe to abandon Saturday afternoon games and suffer the financial impact of rearranging, with the further preparation costs and usually lower attendances that come with it.
Yet surely the frozen pitch was no surprise to anyone with access to a weather forecast or a basic understanding of how temperature works. Countless games were called off before the end of Friday. The decision by Northampton to repeatedly trumpet their confidence in the game going ahead, plus the failure to schedule even a precautionary pitch inspection for first thing Saturday, has more than a whiff of selfishness about it. Thankfully an inspection was eventually undertaken just in time to stop my own departure and that of many fellow Silkmen, but not all will have been so lucky. The team’s and many fans’ plans were disrupted and expenses incurred unnecessarily – it’s not Northampton’s fault the game was off, but I would argue they could have been more thoughtful in their approach.
Clubs are obviously under a myriad of pressures but it would be nice if they could show a little bit more consideration for fans. If temperatures continue to threaten the league fixtures next weekend, I can only hope that every attempt is made to make an early decision on the game with the Green Army set to travel 260 miles to reach the Moss Rose.
One of the pressures involved for Northampton was their obvious need for points. The Cobblers are desperate to get a win and must have seen an injury ravaged Macclesfield as the perfect visitors to arrive at Sixfields – further evidenced by their apparent (unsuccessful) attempts to immediately reschedule the game for Tuesday evening. And of course while Macc fans may have been irked by the way the postponement was handled, it is likely to prove to be an enormous blessing for the Silkmen.
A week off gives the chance to rest a squad tested to its limits and a few key players could be in line to make a return by the time Plymouth arrive at the Moss Rose on Saturday – Tomlinson, Donnelly and Mattis slated for potential comebacks. A break in the fixtures will have eased a few niggles and combined with last week’s excursion to Tenerife will hopefully leave the squad in much improved health, and perhaps mark the beginning of the end for the injury crisis ahead of another big game at the weekend (rising temperatures permitting).
The Pilgrims were involved in the only fixture to survive the weather and secured a dramatic late point against high-flying Southend. An impressive performance that will no doubt boost their morale, but only Northampton sit lower in the Football League and thus surely must remain ideal candidates to end Macclesfield’s run of defeats. Gary Simpson will be more than wary having become Plymouth’s very first league victims in September, but as the physio’s room empties we really have to use our home advantage to halt the slide and avoid any risk of becoming embroiled in a relegation battle.
By Alastair Pattrick
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