Football should look after its member clubs not punish them

PLYMOUTH Parkway will barely have got off the team bus and done a day's work today before they will have to board it again in the morning and return to Yate Town, some 130 miles away, for their second 'home' fixture in three days.

- STUART JAMES

Lee Hobbs (pictured) saw his side play the first of 17 games in just 45 days in Yate last night against Merthyr Town with the manager calling for five wins, which he thinks will be enough to seal their safety in the Southern League Premier Division for another season at least.

The truth is that 22 postponements so far this season and the acrimonious fall out from their ground share with Truro City has taken its toll on a club that have done nothing wrong, but been the victims of one of the wettest winters on record here in the Westcountry.

Work will be done on the pitch in the summer to try and avoid any such situation from occurring again, but this has been an exceptional campaign, for all the wrong reasons. And now, with six weeks remaining in which to conclude their fixtures with no help from the Southern League, you kind of get the feeling that everyone associated with the club just wants to draw a line under the season, have a well-earned break, and start again in July.