The Macron Devon and Exeter league suffered a second successive seriously soggy Saturday with just six of the scheduled matches across the nine division’s beating the weather!

All three of the Sidmouth Town sides playing in the league were off, as were Tipton St John, Newton Poppleford and Otterton, while Ottery St Mary’s Bill Slee Cup quarter-final tie with Winchester also met a watery grave.

Tipton St John suffered their third postponement in four weeks and the Macron League Division Three outfit have played just twice since December 2! They still have 14 league matches to play in their Division Three campaign.

The first month of 2018 has seen 70 games played across the nine divisions of the Devon and Exeter League, the season before (2016/17, 172 matches were played – though there were five Saturday’s in January 2017), and 75 were played in the 2-15/16 season. The ‘driest’ January in recent season 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!

That season Tipton St John played on December 14, 2013, and then sat out the next 12 weeks before returning to action on Saturday, March 8. They were the left with 15 matches to squeeze into the last seven weeks of the campaign!

From the start of February through to the first Saturday in May there are 14 Saturday’s remaining so it looks like being a busy last three months of the season for many local football teams.

Locally the remaining league games for out sides stands at: Sidmouth Town Reserves (15), Sidmouth Town thirds (11), Sidmouth Town fourths (15), Tipton St John (14), Newton Poppleford 1st team (16), Sidmouth Town Reserves and Sidmouth Town fourths (15), Ottery St Mary (14), Otterton first team (12), Sidmouth Town thirds (11), Newton Poppleford Reserves (10).