Cold snap, heated tempers

HAVING so many matches fall foul of the weather is bad enough as a player.

But as a coach or a manager it is possibly even more frustrating, because it results in a backlog of matches.

Some people look at the league table, see that we have games in hand and view that as a positive.

But it doesn't work like that.

We have five games to play now that should already have taken place — and that, potentially, could be a nightmare for us.

We all live for Saturdays — plus Tuesdays — and when matches don't come around it gets frustrating.

It will be good just to get back to playing football and that is where we make our money.

There have been a few incidents in training with the players and that all boils down to frustration, because they can't take it out on the opposition.

It is good to see, as long as it doesn't boil over into full-scale violence!

The one thing you might say is that because we haven't played, the players will probably be a bit fresher than they would otherwise be.

On the flip side, there is going to be a bit of rustiness as a result of not playing.

It isn't ideal, but it is what it is and everybody is in the same boat.

With all the matches that we haven't played, we still have match reports and DVDs to look at.

Preparations have taken place for every game as if it has been on, until we have been officially told otherwise.

So it will be a case of going back over a few things and refreshing the memory.

Looking at our two games across this weekend, Hartlepool are on a good run of form and are a well-organised team.

They don't give much away, so it is going to be a difficult one for us.

Rochdale have endured a similar predicament to ourselves with the bad weather and have not managed to play an awful lot lately.

They will be a little rusty, but it is a local derby — a game and an occasion that everyone relishes — and we are expecting another difficult task, just like we got the last time we faced them.

Looking at the situation with our loan players, there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes, especially from the manager, to make sure we can keep those we want.

We also have to be updated on the players who are out at other clubs because of the financial situation regarding wages, and how those loanees coming back would affect us going forward.