CANCELLATIONS up and down the country are contributing to further worries of fixture congestion for managers.

Buckland Athletic have already had two Western League games called off in 2026 due to the storms and today would likely have been a third had they been originally scheduled to take to the field.

Manager Matt Cusack is anticipating “a backlog of fixtures”, adding, “I don’t remember it being this relentless in previous years.

“I’m hoping that we don’t get too many more postponements because then it could create a scenario where we’re playing Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and then you’re just fulfilling fixtures to get to the end of the year, which can have implications on playoff aspirations.”

The Yellows had their visit to Oldland Abbotonians called off on Saturday, January 10, the same happening last weekend with Brislington FC set to visit Homers Heath.

From now until the end of the campaign, “All we can do is worry about ourselves”, says Cusack.

On one side of the coin, Barnstaple Town are hot on their heels with five games in hand. But then on the flipside, “With all of these postponements, it could be the case that they’re playing three or four times a week which would likely influence their outcomes and their aspirations.

“We can’t worry about Barnstaple or anyone else for that matter though, we just have to focus on our own games.”

Reflecting on his time in charge so far, Cusack used “turbulence” as the operative description word.

Several players departed both in the summer and then mid-season as well, not to mention the previously reported loss of trio Jared Lewington, Sammy Stayt and Ruben Kane, all to long-term injuries.

“They are three players who have had all played at higher levels of football and were all playing for us at the spine of the team. If you lose just one of them in any team’s spine, that’s going to hurt you, so to lose three is massively significant.

“Also, one of the great successes because of all of that is that we’ve been able to nurture the pathway. We found two lads, Toby Hard and Coby White more recently, who have become mainstay 1st team players and they’ve both started a number of games.”

White returned from a short injury to feature to great effect in recent games whereas Hard has been a great option for Cusack in the final third, particularly with Lewington sidelined.

Ryan Bush has been the obvious standout in a Buckland shirt “but he couldn’t be doing what he’s doing without the players around him”, Hard being one to compliment him well.

“Bushy is having the season of his life, he’s on 31 goals and counting and he’s someone who has probably benefited from Jared’s injury, as unfortunate as it is.”

Talking of that injured trio and whilst Lewington and Kane “probably won’t return until midway through next season at the earliest”, Stayt “returned to training a couple of weeks ago just on light duties.

“He’s not game ready yet but he’s making significant progress so we’re hoping to have him back by the end of the season which will be massive for us.”

Cusack offered an update on the other two; Lewington has undergone surgery successfully and now has the long road to recovery ahead of him whereas Kane will have his surgery in the next couple of weeks.

Turbulent is an apt way to summarize what we’ve seen from Buckland off of the pitch to date.

“To say that we’re still in fifth position [despite all of this], which is where the club finished last year and we’re on target to achieve a better points per game ratio compared to previous years, you’d have to say it’s going well.”

February now promises to be a crucial month for Buckland Athletic as they face Newquay AFC first, another playoff hopeful, before going toe-to-toe with third-placed Paulton Rovers both home and away.

It could well be a make-and-break spell on the way towards their do-or-die playoff ambitions.