Weekend hockey prospects look bleak (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Weekend hockey prospects look bleak

3:11pm Thursday 5th February 2009 in Sport By Jon Boyle

Several hockey fixtures in Wiltshire look set to fall foul to the weather on Saturday, with many astroturf pitches set to be deemed too dangerous for play.

Devizes A are set to host Stroud, Chippenham host West Wilts B, Wootton Bassett take on City of Bath A and Marlborough A host Swindon A.

But they will all be postponed for safety reasons if snow is still on the pitches on Saturday.

Devizes chairman Toby Brown said: "I would say the chances of the A team's match going ahead is one in ten.

"Artificial pitches get colder and colder so, even if the snow clears from other areas, it stays on the pitches.

"Our first team should be okay because they are away from home but I would expect there will be a problem with hockey taking place in Wiltshire this weekend."

Chippenham captain Howard Simons will make a final pitch inspection at midday on Saturday to decide if their game can go ahead.

"I don't know at the moment, we will decide at 12pm on Saturday," he said.

"I'm getting mixed messages from people with regards to forecasts.

"If there's any snow on the pitch we won't play because it's too hard and slippy, it would be too dangerous."