Baffins Milton and Moneyfields facing increasing fixture chaos after latest postponements in a rain-wrecked campaign

Baffins Milton Rovers’ Wessex League game at leaders Alresford fell foul of a waterlogged Arlebury Park pitch.

The game had been switched to the mid-Hanpshire venue last Sunday when it became clear that Baffins’ PMC Stadium surface would again be deemed unplayable.

Moneyfields - another club well behind with their fixtures after the wettest few months in local football history - also suffered a postponement they could ill afford.

For the second time in three weeks, their Hampshire Senior Cup semi-final with AFC Bournemouth was postponed due to the state of the Dover Road pitch.

Both Baffins and Moneyfields face a hectic finale to a rain-ruined campaign.

Baffins still have 16 league games left and, starting at Fareham Town tomorrow, only 45 days in which to play them.

That compares to the 183 days in which Baffins have played their last 16 Wessex games - a run stretching back to September 21.

Put another way, Baffins still have 42 per cent of their league games to play - and that in a season which began way back on Saturday, August 3!

At present, the Wessex League season is due to finish on April 25 - a date already extended by a week after Storm Dennis took out virtually an entire weekend’s fixture list last month.

Baffins have not played a league game since February 8, and have only managed two home league games since the end of October - against Lymington on January 4 and Hamble Club on February 8.

As a result, they still have 11 home games left to play.

Their last six league games are all scheduled at the PMC Stadium - on April 4, 8, 11,18, 21 and 25.

Somewhere in amongst that lot, Baffins also have a home tie in the Portsmouth Senior Cup semi-finals against Horndean to fit in!

In addition, Portsmouth Women - who share the PMC Stadium pitch - have league games scheduled for April 12 and 19.

That means eight games in 22 days on a pitch which has only staged four Baffins 1st XI fixtures and one Portsmouth Women game since November 6.

Let’s pray it stops raining soon ...

Moneyfields, meanwhile, still have 13 of their 38 league games left to play - 34 per cent of their total fixtures - as well as hosting the Cherries in the county cup.

The Hampshire Senior Cup final was scheduled for Wednesday, March 25, at Eastleigh’s Silverlake Stadium.

But that could all change as neither semi-final has yet been played. Prior to last night’s Dover Road tie meeting a watery grave, Eastleigh’s home semi with Southampton had been postponed 24 hours earlier.

If the Hampshire FA still insist on a March 25 final, that only leaves next midweek to fit the semi-finals in. But Eastleigh are hosting Dover in a re-arranged National League game on the Tuesday, and Moneyfields are home to Sholing in a Southern League Division 1 South match the same evening.

As it stands, Moneys are due to play another midweek home game - against Bristol Manor Farm - 24 hours before the Hampshire Senior Cup final is supposed to be taking place.

To further put pressure on an increasingly crowded fixture list, Moneys still have to agree a date to play Hampshire Premier Leaguers Denmead in the quarter-final of the Portsmouth Senior Cup.