Cash Freeze

WEALDEN were left to rue missing out on a potential money-spinner last Saturday when their clash with County League champions Burgess Hill was called off at an 11am pitch inspection.

With 99 per cent of games in the region called off on Saturday, Wealden were hoping to attract their biggest ever gate for the visit of the Sussex giants.

At an initial 8.30am inspection the signs were promising, but, when the match referee from East Grinstead arrived just over two hours later, the pitch had frozen over again.

'If you look at the gates where games were played then it's not unreasonable to suggest we would have got a couple of hundred at the game on Saturday,' said the club's assistant manager, Allan Lofthouse.

'We all went over to the Eastbourne Borough v Farnborough FA Trophy game and there were over 1,500 there.

'Our president Tom Parker actually sponsored the game, and I must say the facilities down there now are exceptional. They've shown the way forward for ambitious teams in Sussex and there are parallels with us.

'Borough have only been in existance some 20 or 30 years, we've been going 14 years and we've both come up from the ranks of parks football. That's where we want to go and of course the next stage is getting floodlights.'

Club officials are meeting Wealden District Council's Ian Kay today (Friday) as Allan and his team prepare to launch another bid for the acceptance of lights at the ground.