Lancaster City's break hasn't come at the worst time for the players

The Dolly Blues haven’t played since a four-game winning run in the NPL Premier season ended with defeat to Marine on December 3.

Since then, the freezing conditions have necessitated mass postponements and rearrangements at most levels of the footballing pyramid.

City’s trip to Nantwich Town on December 10 was the first of three consecutive call-offs, followed by last weekend’s match at Radcliffe.

They should have played Guiseley on Tuesday but that was postponed as their opponents had an FA Trophy match moved from last Saturday.

A three-week break might not be ideal preparation heading into Boxing Day’s match with Bamber Bridge but City have had another issue with which to contend.

The manager explained: “We’ve had this illness which has been going round and have had five or six players affected by that.

“Players like Nico Evangelinos and Sam Bailey wouldn’t have played the last two weeks even if we’d had games.

“Although we would have wanted to be out there, it’s perhaps a blessing in disguise that no-one has been playing for two weeks.”

The Dolly Blues’ recent lack of football hasn’t been for the want of trying, however.

A friendly against NWCFL First Division North club Garstang was pencilled in last weekend once the league game with Radcliffe fell through.

The weather scuppered those plans as well but at least there was a chance for some preparation work to be undertaken.

“We were keen to get back out playing after the Marine game,” Fell said.

“We were meant to play Garstang on the 3G at Myerscough College but, when we got there, it had started to become waterlogged because the frost and the ice were thawing out.

“We managed to find a quarter of it that we were able to train on and, after training on Tuesday, we will train again on Thursday.

“All of the 3G pitches have been frozen and we don’t have the benefit of indoor facilities, so we’ve been setting the lads tasks to do.

“At our level, we’re competing with grassroots clubs to get the facilities; if we could have a 3G at the Giant Axe, then that would be amazing.”