Thackley's pre-season friendly with near neighbours and Northern Counties East Premier Division rivals Liversedge last night was the first fixture of the preliminary campaign to fall foul of the weather.

The clash at Dennyfield was called off because of the heavy overnight rain

and almost constant drizzle through the early part of yesterday.

The decision will be a blow to the preparations of both managers, although Thackley boss John Boyle will have most to lose as his side have only played two games so far.

Sedge still have tomorrow night's home game against Halifax Town to look

forward to while Thackley have to wait until Saturday and a visit to Eastwood Town for their next competitive match.

Thackley spokesman Steve Paley said, "The game was cancelled mid-afternoon,

because of all the rain.

"It would be pointless to risk doing the pitch lasting damage at this time of year. There is not much time to go before the season starts and for a

friendly, however important to the manager and players, common sense prevailed.

"There has been no attempt to re-schedule it because of the timescale.

Liversedge have Halifax tomorrow and we have Eastwood on Saturday, that would leave too little time to make the arrangements so I imagine it will be off altogether."

Liversedge were committed to the fixture despite having to put it forward 24 hours. It was originally penciled in for tonight, the regular training night for both clubs, but was moved after Sedge landed the game against Halifax.

Despite that, both managers said they wanted to enter into the spirit and promised full-strength sides to give each other a real taste of action. The agreement is a long-standing one after the two clubs were let down by others

in previous pre-seasons.