Town boss Mark Brier has been as frustrated as the next man by the enforced break brought about by the cold snap – but had a special word of sympathy for the club’s youth team.

With mass postponements, financial worries because of no paying public and the added burst-pipe nightmares the thaw brought, it has been a bad time for every club from the Premier Division down to the grass roots.

And Brier explained the club’s youngsters have been hit particularly hard.

He said: “I feel sorry for our under-19s as they haven’t played a game for two and a half months.

“Simon Wood is running it, as well as being a very big part of our first-team squad, and his problems are like everyone else’s, only multiplied several times over.

“Simon is doing a great job with the young lads and is a very good coach.

“He has got the under-19s top of their league and in the middle of a very good cup run, only to have all that interrupted by the worst December for 120-odd years.”

The first team have had weeks without games and disrupted training sessions but the odd match has gone ahead. Brier thinks those run-outs, however rare, have been imperative as Town have limped through the impromptu break.

He said: “We have just been ticking over, as a team, as a squad, as a club.

“At least we have had some football here and there and that is why we were so glad to get the West Riding County Cup tie at Guiseley played.

“There has to be a big ‘thankyou’ for everyone up at Nethermoor for that because they worked wonders to get it on. We were glad to have a competitive fixture and it was a very good performance by our lads.

“There was no question that our lads would be up for it with them being a Conference League club but Guiseley put out a very strong team, which made it even more special.

“Their boss Steve Kittrick was very pleased with our attitude and the way the lads conducted themselves. Hope-fully, discussions about a pre-season friendly will lead to it being fulfilled by their first team squad.”