United boss Mark Poulton relayed the bad news to his squad of players that their match against Cowes Sports was off for the sixth time in seven weekends, and their ninth fixture in a row had been postponed.

An early Saturday morning pitch inspection found the College Ground completely waterlogged after overnight rain melted the snow.

Poulton said: "We've had so many matches postponed recently that it will be like pre-season before we get playing again.

"And because we haven't got indoor facilities locally to train, the lads have been left to their own devices in an effort to keep themselves fit

"But it isn't anything like good enough to match our regular outdoor training.

"We are not alone in this, every club at our level are in the same situation, though I see that Wimborne Town managed to get in a home fixture at the weekend so we should be okay on Tuesday night as we are due to play them there in a league match.

"The sooner we get back to knocking off our list of matches the better. Otherwise the lads could face playing three-times-a-week towards the end of the season."

United also saw their match at Hamworthy abandoned at the end of November because of floodlight failure, and also lost a home game earlier in the season when storms damaged the dug-outs at the Hayling ground.

All but two of the games called off in the last six weeks have been home games, and United's often-criticised pitch will almost certainly struggle to cope with the number of rearranged games to come - assuming there is no further prolongued bad weather.

Poulton voiced his concerns for his small squad last week, calling on the Wessex League to consider extending the season.