BRAINTREE TOWN chairman Lee Harding has admitted the buffer of money earned in the FA Cup earlier this season has helped the club through a difficult period.
Having seen a number of games – particularly at home – called off, the Iron are facing fixture congestion, with 14 games to play in just five weeks, starting with Saturday's trip to Stockport.
And while the situation – which will see the Iron forced to play a number of games on Thursday nights as well as Saturday and Tuesday – is not ideal, Harding is keen for the club to soldier on through.
"It's just one of those things that happens occasionally," he said. "We've had some extraordinary weather and it's a matter of working our way around a through it. There's not a lot we can do, if the referee says the pitch is not playable, that's that.
"It's been the second wettest winter in 100 years and the end of the season has been brought forward by two weeks.
"A wet winter is going to give you fixture problems and knocking two weeks off the season is going to give you fixture problems, so the two of them together means clubs like us are going to be playing Saturday Tuesday Thursday Saturday. The issue for us is working our way round and through it."
The financial impact of losing Saturday games can be quite large, but with money in the bank from the cup run and a sensible attitude to budgeting, the Iron are still in good stead.
Harding added: "Earlier in the season we played Tranmere at home in the FA Cup and earned ourselves £110,000 out of that game, and that really has helped the club get through a difficult spell.
"Each season we do try and budget sensibly and you do always budget for a bit of fixture disruption.
"We've had more than our fair share this year but it's a winter sport so you have to be prepared for that.
"Games going from a Saturday to a Tuesday does always have an impact but we'll fight our way through it.
"We've got – hopefully – four home games coming up in eight days, so things will pick up."