Sidmouth Town footballers sat out another matchday on the final Saturday of January to complete a miserable first month of the year for the Vikings’ players.

The first team game at home to table-topping Newton Abbot was one of all but two South West Peninsula League Eastern Division games to be washed out – just 13 games were played in the division across the entire four match days in January!

The three Town sides playing in the Macron Devon and Exeter League also sat out yet another Saturday.

The first month of 2018 has seen 70 games played across the nine divisions of the Macron League. The season before (2016/17), 172 matches were played – though there were five Saturdays in January 2017, and 75 were played in the 2015/16 season. The ‘driest’ January in recent seasons was clearly the one in 2015 for that season no fewer than 184 matches were played in the first month of the year.

However, this current January was not as bad as the 2013/14 season when the first month of the year saw just 44 Devon and Exeter League matches played!

This past midweek there has been more drier weather than of late, so hopes are high that some – if not all - of the Town senior teams will indeed start February with a game.

The first team entertain Appledore at Manstone Lane (3pm) and Town boss Josh Stunell says of the game: “It would be nice just to play. The fixture schedule has not been kind to us in terms of coming matches, for I think we spend three of the next five Saturdays without a game, so we really need to be playing this one.”

Town shared six goals with Appledore when the sides met in North Devon earlier in the season. Stunell says: “A look at the current table underlines the importance of this meeting. I do believe they [Appledore] will feel they are coming to us looking to get a result, but I have never been one of those folk who look at our present situation and feel we are under threat. I know the quality in our dressing room, and it is certainly of sufficient value to ensure we stay clear of the bottom two slots.”

The Town second team are in Macron League Division Two action with a trip to Mid Devon to face Bickleigh, while the third team are in Division Six action when they host Seaton Town reserves. Completing what everyone hopes will be a full day of senior Town action, the fourth team have a Division Eight engagement in Exeter with a visit to Pinhoe Reserves.

All the Saturday kick-offs are now back to 3pm.