IT takes a lot to depress Ramsbottom United Secretary John Maher but the recent weather has certainly dampened his spirits.

"They say football is a game of two halves. Well we've now got a pitch of two halves," he joked.

"One side of our playing surface is now completely under water. Drains act in two ways; they take water away when they can but when they are full they pump it back out. That is the problem we have now. There is just nowhere for the water to go."

"There has been no respite in the weather for so long now that we are constantly fighting a losing battle. Last weekend Bury, Rochdale, Leigh RMI ourselves and many others at our level were off. The significance - and the major worry of that - is that although we are not the richest of clubs, we have been able to spend money on our pitches.

"What is happening now is that even the good pitches are beginning to suffer. We just can't get on the pitch to do any work because it damages it even more.

"What we need is a lengthy period of mild weather but you just can't see that happening and the forecasters are unable to give us any hope for optimism. It really is getting to be a very serious situation."