White-out!

SNOW-GO: Warren Caine, a member of the Athletic groundstaff, checks the depth of the snow at Boundary Park.

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OLDHAM Roughyeds’ friendly match away at Whitehaven on Sunday has been postponed — which means a weekend white-out for the town’s two professional clubs.

Tony Benson’s side were due to travel north for former Oldham Bears player Howard Hill’s testimonial game at the Recreation ground, as part of the build-up to the forthcoming rugby league season.

But despite the best efforts of ground staff at the Cumbrian club, the fixture has fallen foul of a frozen pitch. Efforts will be made to reschedule the match.

It means that Roughyeds fans will now have to wait until a week on Sunday to catch a first glimpse of the club’s raft of new players, when the team travels for a friendly in Batley (2pm kick-off).

The scheduled Law Cup clash against Hornets RL has already been postponed twice and is now down to be played on Sunday, January 24 (3pm) at Spotland.

Athletic’s home game against Leyton Orient in Coca-Cola League One was called off yesterday morning following an official inspection at Boundary Park. The pitch is covered in a two-inch layer of ice, with snow on top of that.

An early call was made in conjunction with the Football League in order to stop Orient from making an unnecessary trip north. The clash is one of 10 in the division to have already bitten the dust.

Only Leeds United’s home game against Wycombe and Exeter’s trip to Norwich have survived the onslaught so far.

The decision to call off the game means that Athletic are next in action at Boundary Park on Wednesday, January 20, when Tranmere visit in a rearranged fixture. That match was originally down to be played on Boxing Day, but was held back due to safety concerns around the ground and in the car parks.

No new date has yet been put in place by Athletic for the Orient game.

Athletic officials have admitted, though, that the lack of home matches — there has been only one at Boundary Park since the visit of Leeds on December 1 — has made things difficult for the club in terms of cash-flow.

The cold snap has also been far from ideal from the manager’s point of view.

“It has been a nightmare,” Athletic boss Dave Penney admitted.

“We haven’t been able to get outdoors with a ball and have been restricted to gym work, while on Tuesday the players couldn’t even get in at all.”