Stafford Rangers manager Chris Brindley is preparing his team for a longer spell out of action with Saturday’s league trip to Farsley Celtic already in serious doubt.

Heavy snow and icy conditions caused havoc across the country yesterday, with playing surfaces up and down the country still frozen stiff. Only four games in the Blue Square North have been played since Boxing Day, two of those at Fleetwood, as a result.

That was the last time Rangers’ were in action at local rivals AFC Telford, with Bank Holiday Monday’s home game at Redditch and the return derby at Marston Road on New Years Day called of a result.

In recent days the further north you go the worse it gets and Farsley, a small commuter town near Leeds, has been badly hit.

Brindley is not holding much hope of Saturday’s fixture going ahead, or next Tuesday’s rearranged visit of Redditch.

He said: “It’s simply guess work until we know for sure, but I certainly can’t see the game at Farsley going ahead, to be honest. If you look at the forecast, it could be seven to 10 days before we can get a game on. Things can change, but that is the way it’s looking at the moment.

“If it doesn’t clear up, then Saturday’s game is off and I would think our rearranged game against Redditch would be in serious doubt as well. You couldn’t play on our pitch at the moment because it’s rock hard, and if we get any more snow then it’s not going to shift.

“We hope to play, of course we do, but everybody is in the same boat at the moment. There won’t be too many clubs at this level getting their games on at the weekend if this weather stays the same. So we will kick ahead and prepare ourselves for when we think we are going to play.

“But if the pitch is frozen you can’t play, simple as that.”