Page 7 - The Deal Roundup - February 2019

Gent Builders

For all your building
requirements

Please Phone
07935 204 338

up in the middle of the night and follow the Thurlow Nunn league, then we believe their
presence in the pyramid provides a brilliant exposure for British Non-League football!
Silly season is fast approaching….
As the nights begin to rapidly draw in and the thermostat readings start to plummet, we are
quickly entering a period of the campaign that is often loathed by supporters and groundsmen
alike. Waterlogged and frozen pitches will likely become an ever increasing phenomenon over
the next few weeks as fixtures begin to fall foul of the weather, leaving players and fans kicking
their heels on Saturday afternoons.
These postponements are certainly a nuisance, especially for sides who are beginning to
string together a few good results and will lead to the typical fixture backlog in the spring,
where players often bust a gut to play several times
each week.
However, it is at this time of year that we should think
about the volunteers who put in countless hours of
work at clubs across the entire Non-League pyramid.
It is these volunteers who often help out with the
thankless task of battling against the miserable
weather conditions as well battling against the odds to
try and ensure that fixtures are fulfilled as the winter months begin to bite. As always, all Non-
League fans owe a huge amount of gratitude to these spirited individuals!
An Unwanted Record - by Jon Couch.
ANOTHER new record was equalled in the National League recently with Chesterfield’s 1-1
draw with Bromley. This was their NINTH successive stalemate, breaking a club record and
matching the longest ever sequence in the top five divisions in English football, joining the feat
of Woking in the 2003-04 Conference season.
It’s a run that eventually lost Martin Allen his job and left the club ensconced in the relegation
zone in their first ever season of Non-League football, although bizarrely they are currently
on the best and worst run of form in club history. The Spireites are 19 league games without
a win – breaking a new club record for the longest winless run – but Zavon Hines’ injury-time

6 7