FOOTBALL: Clymping boss' fixture fury

CLYMPING Football Club manager Dominic Di Paola hit out at the way the County League fixtures are scheduled after his side's County League Division 2 Cup semi-final with Littlehampton on Tuesday evening was postponed owing to a waterlogged pitch.

His team still have a minimum of 17 games left and Di Paola criticised the lack of notification of fixtures in advance and the lack of early season midweek games, and he has even volunteered to sort them out himself. He said: "I just think it's badly organised.

"We need to play more games at the beginning of the season and just use some common sense. I mean, we had just one week's notice for the game with Littlehampton on Tuesday – it shouldn't be like that.

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"Fair play to the people who volunteer and do the fixtures for the league but there's got to be a more logical way to do it.

"I'd like to see a half-season fixture list come out and I'll volunteer to do it.

"I don't think it would take too long as it's not complicated. You just need to be sensible about it with the teams without floodlights, the teams who share with a cricket team and teams who aren't affected by this.

"I think teams without floodlights, like ourselves, should forfeit home advantage for all the major cups – Sussex Senior, Sussex RUR and John O'Hara – so these can be played midweek at a team who has floodlights.

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"Earlier this season, we were at home to Shoreham, Chichester and Peacehaven in these competitions. We could have played three league matches instead and played away at these teams midweek.

"We could also play three or four extra midweek matches at the start of the season. We didn't play a midweek game until January.

"Surely it doesn't matter if you play a lot of games at the start or at the end of the season. I'm sure teams would rather play them at the start.

"Sussex is a fair old size and last Tuesday, for example, you had Loxwood playing at Southwick, which is a long old trip. There needs to be more logical thinking because players have to leave work early to play in these games and we don't play at a level to justify that.

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"We'll end up playing Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday at the end of the season, which is nonsense. Arundel had to do that last season and I believe it cost them the league title.

"The weather is always going to be dodgy in January, February and March, so there just needs to be more forward-thinking. Playing more games at the start of the season will sort everything out. If we end up having free weeks toward the end of the season, that's fine. Players can have a rest and managers can watch their reserve teams."

On Saturday, Clymping had 10 men for 84 minutes but still beat Westfield 2-0 in Division 2. Alex Biggs netted from a Billy Rayner corner on four minutes before Danny Hand was red-carded for fouling a Westfield opponent when he was clean through on goal.

Clymping still had the better of the game, though, and sealed the win with eight minutes left when substitute Aaron Meehan fired home.

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CLYMPING: Paice; Biggs, D.Di Paola, S.Di Paola, Stokes; Moss, Shelley, Rayner, Castro; Hand, Ghent. Subs: Meehan (Biggs 70), Gaskin (Ghent 73), Young (Rayner 75).

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