Halstead Town have been using their time off to good effect.

Like almost every non-league club across the eastern region, Town’s hopes of action last weekend were sunk by a waterlogged pitch after heavy rain.

It meant Halstead’s Thurlow Nunn League division one clash against Debenham LC at Rosemary Lane was postponed and meant they had only played three games since the end of November ahead of tomorrow's trip to Needham Market Reserves.

However, manager Mark Benterman said the spell without competitive action had been put to good use to rebuild fitness levels and help ease the lengthy list of injuries that have hit Town this season. He said: “Games across the whole area were wiped out so it’s not like we were anything special.

“Our groundsman said we could have got the game on, but it would have meant spending loads of hours working on the pitch and it would probably have wrecked the surface.

“That would mean games off for weeks to come so we thought what was the point.

“But we have used the time well and have been doing a lot of fitness work with the players and I think they are looking sharp.”