You can’t really say that this winter has so far been much better or worse than usual but already the SHFL fixture list is beginning to look more than a wee bit congested.
With the advent of the pyramid system, the first of the scheduled play-off matches involving a Highland League side is indelibly marked in for 25th April. That means that the league competition will need to be completed in time for that to happen and the last scheduled games are slated for the Saturday before – the 18th of April.
All of that looked a perfectly practical proposition back in July or whenever it was that the fixture list was released. Heading into December all still looked fine and dandy but then the rains came and after them the frost, more rain and some snow into the bargain and in the period from then until now most teams have found themselves seven or eight games adrift of where they would hope to be.
We were glad to get a game on Saturday, our first in seven weeks, and the victory against Buckie fairly cheered us up.
However it was a Breedon Aggregates Highland League Cup game and winning it – however welcome the progression to the next stage may be – comes at the price of knocking our League campaign effectively another couple of games asunder [Saturday’s game and the next round tie against Cove].
We can only hope that the worst of the winter is past – but it’s only early February so statistically that’s unlikely. I can see a fixture nightmare in March and April and suspect that the clubs with the bigger squads will have some advantage in this. Maybe the real issue is that we simply have too many competitions to sit alongside the pyramid system. Maybe something will have to give.