CHRISTMAS is generally a busy time for football clubs but Thackley have been counting down the days until their next game.

They played on the first Saturday of December and have been out of action since and, even when the weather relented, the fixture computer gave them a blank week.

However, the Dennyboys had not been in the best run of form and their squad was thin on the ground.

Manager Chris Reape and his assistant Andy Patterson were wondering who would be available as they planned for two Saturday fixtures that both ended up being lost to frozen pitches.

Patterson said: “It has certainly been very quiet but if anything that’s probably a bit of a blessing.

“We have had a few players, not injured, but carrying little niggles and knocks. So it’s been good to not have that pressure of game after game.

"The downside is that we’ve not much time to train either and the big question is – are we ready for the next game?

“We’ll only find out when we play. The boys all look after themselves anyway and we trust them so there are no problems there.

"It’s just a big disappointment that the weather has caused problems with the games and the training has been a bit on and off.

“We’ve only just had the training lights at the ground fixed so we’ve been finding somewhere to train and, when the weather’s been bad, it’s difficult to book somewhere indoors at short notice and also expensive.

“For the amount of people and the length of time we need to use a venue for, it’s a big expense and an outlay that we don’t want.

"We’d love to be in a position to be able to do that without thinking twice but like a lot of football clubs in this area, we’re not.

“The lights at the club for training purposes have not been good for ages but they’re fixed now, so going forward that’s one problem sorted.

"And once the games start coming thick and fast in January, we’ll get the points we need to climb the table.”