Badshot Lea's fixture pile-up got even worse at the weekend when their Combined Counties Premier South match at Banstead was called off.

The match officials inspected the pitch and decided it could not go ahead.

The decision mystified the Baggies who Tweeted: "It has been called off... but don't ask us for a reason, we don't have one."

And Banstead were just as annoyed, tweeting: "It's very unfortunate seeing as though we have had minimal rain since our game on Wednesday."

The Baggies had drawn a blank the week before, too, with games against Frimley Green and Tadley Calleva called off.

The Baggies have played only once since December 4 – and co-manager Gavin Smith said: “We don’t go this long between games in pre-season.

“It has been very frustrating. We haven’t been able to get lots of training in so for the players it’s like starting again after a summer break.

“In all my years in football, I’ve never known anything like this. It’s a bit like the long breaks we had because of Covid.

“It means we have a lot of games in hand on the teams around us – but one positive is that even though we have not been able to play, none of the other teams have pulled away from us.

“We will be playing Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday until the end of the season, that’s for sure – it doesn’t leave a lot of wriggle room.

“We have a lot of games coming up and it will be a good test of the players’ mindset and our mentality, and a good test for our squad.

“We are in a good position and we have to keep things going.

“Abbey Rangers may be top but we have seven games in hand. If we can’t close that gap and go ahead of them, then something has gone very wrong.

“It is looking good for us but there are still a lot of games to be played. 

“But if you’re going to try to win promotion, you might as well do it the hard way – that’s the best way to do it.”

There are 12 weeks left of the season- it ends on April 22 – and the Baggies have 22 league games to fit in, and one cup game – more cup games if they win that one.

Badshot Lea are next in action tomorrow (Tuesday) when they host Alton (7.45pm).