Not only did Hendon's Ryman League Premier Division fixture against Basingstoke Town fall victim to the incessant rain which has blighted the United Kingdom in the past two months on Saturday, but today's Full Members Cup tie with Braintree also fell victim to the weather. There was water lying on the pitch as late as Thursday and the water table is now so high that no amount of forking saw it diminish. The inspection on Saturday morning was a mere formality. Today's inspection lasted for only seconds before the referee pronounced the pitch unfit. No new date has been set for either match, but news will be on Greensnet and the Greensline as soon as fixtures are known.

The bad weather didn't just wipe out football at the LOOT Stadium, there was no senior non-league football played within a 10-mile radius of Claremont Road on Saturday, even Boreham Wood's game surviving a bare 13 minutes before a 2.45 deluge put paid to it.

There was also frustration for the reserves, and goalkeeper Gary McCann in particular. Their game at Oxford City was postponed. The goalkeeper is trying to make a comeback following his major knee surgery at the end of last season. but three reserve games have been postponed in the last week.

"We are ever so close to the top of the table with games in hand," said manager Frank Murphy. "It is so depressing and it is doing my head in. The players are frustrated, but what can you do? We are raring to go."

The bad weather also accounted for all the matches at youth level too. The pitches at Clitterhouse Playing Fields are in such a bad state that one of Hendon's two pitches has been ruled unplayable thoughout November and the other pitch the club uses has taken just one match in the month.