YATE TOWN boss Rob Cousins fears the weather could halt his side’s climb up the table – just like it did last season.

The Bluebells’ Southern League Division One South & West campaign is bearing an uncanny resemblance to their previous one, with a poor start which saw them prop up the table followed by an extraordinary mid-season revival that lifted them to halfway.

A run of nine wins in 12 games eased relegation fears and prompted talk of a late play-off challenge last season before a spate of postponed games caused them to lose momentum, and they only won three of their last 13 games to finish 13th.

The top five is in sight once again for Yate after a nine-game unbeaten run, but they haven’t played since beating Cirencester Town 3-1 over two weeks ago having had four games postponed and Cousins is understandably cautious about playing up his side’s hopes of catching the teams above them.

“Last year we had three weeks without football and it was hard to get going again,” he said.

“Nobody wants to play us at the moment so if there’s a chance to get games off teams will use it to their advantage.

“We’ve worked hard off the field and instilled a hunger and desire into the side, but we don’t want to get carried away like we did to a certain extent last year.

“We need to look after ourselves and hopefully get more points to put pressure on the teams above and below us.

“It’s an old cliché but we’re taking it one game at a time. We gave the rest of the sides a ten-game head start.”

Yate’s game at Abingdon United last Saturday and their GFA Senior Cup tie at Bristol Rovers last night were both postponed due to the snow that has hit the country over the last week.

Due to their run to the first round of the FA Cup and other postponed games, Yate were already facing a congested fixture list and Cousins is hoping the bad weather will relent to allow them to get back into action with home games against Taunton on Saturday (3pm) and North Leigh on Tuesday (7.45pm).

He said: “We already had a game every midweek in January and February and the other games called off have been rearranged in March so it’s going to be busy.”

With 23 league games still to play, Yate are ten points off the play-offs with games in hand on all the sides above them, and eight points above the relegation zone.

Cousins has a full squad to choose from to face a Taunton side who are just two places and two points off the foot of the table.

Yate Town rearranged games: Tue, Feb 26 – Didcot Town (h); Tue, Mar 5 – Tiverton Town (h); Tue, Mar 12 – Abingdon United (a); Tue, Mar 19 – Shortwood United (a).