IT has been a frustrating week for Bradford Park Avenue's players and striker Chib Chilaka admits he has never endured a spell like it in his career.

When the club's FA Trophy tie at Buxton last Saturday was abandoned at half-time, it was hastily rearranged for Tuesday.

But that was postponed and then a West Riding County Cup quarter-final derby against FC Halifax Town also fell foul of the weather a day later.

Chilaka said: "I can't believe there were two midweek games called off within a day of each other.

"In all we had two-and-a-half games off in five days and that's a first time for me. I've never known anything like it – but that's football in England at this time of year for you.

"It looks like there's going to be a bit of fixture congestion going into the new year. But this is a squad of good players and this is when you need that.

"The players who haven't had a lot of game time recently and are a bit unhappy will get their chances now and they will be going all out to grab that chance.

"This is where every member of the squad comes into their own and proves their worth."

Chilaka feels the right decision was made regarding last weekend's abandonment, even though it was frustrating for both teams and sets of fans.

The goal-getter also thinks his team-mates have got that out of their system now after a vigorous training session on Thursday.

"It was really bad at Buxton – and it wasn't just player safety that came into the decision as the spectators were also taking a battering from the weather," he said.

"The only sensible thing to do was let them get inside, get warm and dry.

"We had started well and were enjoying the game but as it (rain) came down, we all knew after about 35 minutes that it couldn't continue.

"The referee called me over, as vice-captain, and their skipper and he asked us what we thought and as much as you don't want a game called off, it has to be safety first.

"We were in limbo from then because no-one knew what was happing. You can't assume a game is going to be called off, so you have to prepare properly for it.

"But once we got past Wednesday, we knew it would be training on Thursday and then rest up for today's home game against Stalybridge Celtic.

"Training went really well. We do it indoors on a Thursday and it went on a bit longer than planned because there was so much pent-up energy. It was a really good session and everyone enjoyed it.

"We get told to do a bit in the gym on non-training days and we all do, so it won't have affected us ahead of what will be a tough game against Stalybridge."