WITH the higher competitions on the non-League ladder suffering from a glut of postponements on Sunday, clubs in the Bradford area are doubling their efforts to try and ensure there is on repeat on New Year's Day.
When both Bradford Park Avenue and Farsley confirmed that their weekend games were postponed, they suggested that Thursday's games were also in doubt.
Avenue are due to host Chorley in Vanarama Conference North, after being beaten by the odd goal in the reverse fixture on Boxing Day.
Guiseley are also facing a reverse fixture as they hope to host Harrogate Town, following last Friday's goalless draw at the CNG Stadium.
Farsley should be welcoming Harrogate Railway Athletic after losing their Boxing Day derby 1-0 at Brighouse Town and being denied the chance to get that out of their system at home to Darlington 1883 on Sunday.
After working at Horsfall Stadium on Sunday morning, albeit in vain, Avenue director Kevin Hainsworth said: "If the forecast is correct then we should be all right for New Year's Day.
"We got a lot of the snow off the pitch and temperatures went up to about three degrees. We took extra care to protect the areas that were troublesome when the previous two games were off because it was waterlogged.
"If we have no rain or frost, which the forecast suggests, it should be okay – but I have asked for volunteers today. The forecast for New Year's Day is nine degrees, which is positively balmy at this time of year, but we still need people to help out.
"Our next home game after New Year's Day is not until late January. We have three away games before then and two of those are on Sundays."
Avenue are at Leamington and then Worcester City on successive Sundays before making the short journey to Nethermoor to face Guiseley on Saturday, January 17. Their next game at Horsfall, after New Year's Day, is against Colwyn Bay on January 24.
Hainsworth said: "The next two away games are on rearranged dates because of fixtures elsewhere, so that is completely out of our control. But it is a bit different having consecutive Sunday games at our level.
"Our next home game is against Colwyn Bay and our new owner Gareth Roberts is good friends with Terry Jones, who is well known for being in Monty Python – and he is a Bay supporter.
"We are looking to do something on the day to get them both involved. Maybe an ice bucket challenge or something else devilish – we're working on it."
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