AFC Fylde manager Dave Challinor insists that the recent weather conditions are equally disruptive to training as they are to his side’s matches.

The Coasters’ scheduled National League North fixture against Corby Town had to be called off last night due to a waterlogged pitch.

Challinor had been keen to get back into the thick of the action following the disappointing defeat against Worcester City at the weekend, but Kellamergh Park again fell victim to the heavy rain.

Several games over the last couple months, both home and away, have been disrupted by the atrocious conditions and the boss reveals the weather affects more than just matches. 

“On the plus side this gives us a few more days to prepare for the weekend,” said Challinor. “However, it also disrupts our training schedule in a big way.

“There is nowhere around here that we can get on grass and all the 3G facilities are tied up so last minute we are scrambling around looking for somewhere.

“We have managed to get a sports hall so we will be inside, but it’s far from ideal.

“Fortunately a lot of the lads trained on Monday morning and they were able to get the weekend out of their system in terms of muscle fatigue and tightness.”

Whilst Challinor admits the postponements are frustrating, he admits his side have to just get on with things.

“We wanted to play that’s without question after the weekend’s result, but we can’t do much about it now. Having seen the forecast there was always a danger that the game would be off.

“Had the game been scheduled for 24 hours earlier then we would have been fine and the pitch was in great nick.

“Unfortunately the decision was made following an inspection at lunchtime yesterday that the pitch unplayable. Even when I left the ground at around 4pm there was no chance we could have got the game on so it was the right decision.

“We are quite fortunate that we aren’t at home this Saturday, because looking at the forecast we might have struggled for that too.

“The weather has an impact at some point every year, whether it’s snow, whether it’s frost, whether it’s rain, but it has been particularly disruptive this season.

“You get an idea of how severe it has been when you see Football League games being called off.  The amount of rain that has come down locally has been crazy and that is what is affecting us the most.

“The pitch itself is draining really well, but there is still standing water in places, because the rain isn’t able to get through the pitch quickly enough, such is the volume of water.

“I imagine that the weather will continue to have an impact on us in the near future. We just have to hope that we can get games rearranged quickly enough so we don’t end up with a backlog of matches at the end of the season.”