Chris Hilton believes Stocksbridge Park Steels are the only team in England not to have played in 2015
Chris Hilton believes his Stocksbridge Park Steels side are the “only team in England” yet to play this year as snow is set to wipe out another fixture tomorrow.
The Steels, who are due to host Stafford Rangers, have been the most affected club in the Evo Stik Division One South by the snow and rain since the weather started taking a turn for the worst on Boxing Day.
The 3-2 defeat to Sheffield FC that day ended a four game unbeaten run and Hilton said that the enforced winter break has come at a time when his team were showing consistency.
“We must be the only team in England who has not played in 2015,” Hilton told Non League Yorkshire.
“It is 99% likely that the game (with Stafford Rangers) is off tomorrow because there is four inch of snow on it and that will make it five weeks without a game.
“It is massively frustrating because we had gone one defeat in five games, our second mini-run of the season, and we were looking a stable side who were picking up points.
“You can do as much as training as you want, but it is not the same as playing games. Because it is five weeks, it is like starting the season all over again.
“We have kept the lads ticking over and we have been trying to arrange friendlies, but it is difficult finding a pitch because groundsman and chairman don’t want you on their pitches at this time of the year because of the amount of games they have coming up.
“It has been a nightmare since Boxing Day.”
The scene at Stocksbridge Park Steels yesterday
Former Worsbrough manager Hilton has been in charge at Bracken Moor since the summer and openly said upon his appointment that his first season was about creating stability.
It has taken longer than he and his assistant Mark Wilson expected to put together a stable squad.
Steels sit lowly in the table, but they have games in hand and Hilton feels his squad is almost complete.
“We knew it was a big job and knew it was about staying in the league and building the foundations for next season,” he said.
“I believe at this stage we have a stable, fit and organised side. The next part is bringing two or three lads, who have a bit of extra quality, in.
“There have been more changes than we anticipated. I thought we would have kept a lot of last season’s squad.
“We had four in pre-season and then started with three at the start of the season. That went down to two after four games and then we sold to Nathan Joynes to Handsworth.
“So we lost them all which was a bit of a blow. But we are more than happy with the squad we have now.
“It’s a building process, we have said that all along.”
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