GIVES US BREAK !!

At last a break from the vice like grip of the arctic weather conditions which has caused havoc with the fixtures.

It's now a question of how quickly the pitches will recover. Certainly, in the Beckenham area, the unfamiliar sight of grass now begins to replace the blanket of snow.  With temperatures now above freezing hopefully things can soon return to normality. The problem is whether frozen surfaces will be replaced with ones that are waterlogged: the next 24 hours should give the answer to that.

A glance at the revised fixture schedule issued by Matthew Panting, the Kent League's overworked Fixture Secretary, clearly shows that by utilising the amount of Saturdays left in the season it reduces the amount of long mid-week trips.  Providing playing matches can resume fairly quickly then the amount of damage done to the fixture list has been reasonably slight.

For Becks, the first question is whether the improved conditions will allow them to travel to play Hythe Town on Saturday and this now seems likely. The next question - is whether the EPA pitch is sufficiently recovered by next Tuesday to allow the League Cup game against Erith Town to get the "all clear" and again this seems likely.