Waterlogged pitches again brought havoc to the local soccer programme with Billericay Town again being the major victims.

The New Lodge side discovered early on Saturday morning that their FA Umbro Trophy fourth round tie at Dr Martens League Eastern Division Histon was a washout and they have now tasted action only once in three weeks.

New date for the tie is tonight (Tuesday) night but, even yesterday, there were fears that the Histon ground would not be fit for play.

If that does prove the case, and an early decision can be made, Town have not ruled out the possibility of still staging their home Ryman League Premier Division game with Purfleet.

At least Billericay had the satisfaction of joining Canvey as the only remaining Ryman representatives in today's fifth round draw.

While Canvey were pulling off their excellent success at Bilston, Farnborough Town moved further clear of them in the League.

In fact the Hampshire side now have a ten point lead over closest rivals Gravesend - and are 11 ahead of Canvey - following Saturday's 3-0 home success over second from bottom Grays.

Canvey do have three games in hand on Farnborough and two on Gravesend and will hope to return to the League in winning style tomorrow when Croydon come to Park Lane.

Only 19 matches - less than half the programme - was possible in the Ryman League with Great Wakering's Division Two visit to Horsham one of the victims.

The entire Schweppes Essex Senior League programme was washed out, including the Southend Manor v Concord Rangers local derby and the top of the table Basildon United v Brentwood clash.

The Essex Intermediate League are in complete despair after seeing their total of cancelled matches for the season pass the 300 mark.

The Hadleigh Carport Southend Borough Combination were only able to stage seven of their scheduled 40 plus games and fixtures secretary Les Phillips admitted: "The situation is getting very serious for us now if we are to complete our entire programme.

"I can't remember a winter when we've suffered so many postponements through wet weather - and let's not forget that February can often bring our severest cold spell. If that happens this time round it will be chaos for us all."

The Bukta Southend District League suffered another dismal day on Saturday and things were no better on Sunday with the Southend, Bukta Sceptre, South-east Essex, Vange, and Basildon Sunday Leagues all suffering widespread disruption along with the youngsters of the Southend Junior, Thundermite, and Bukta South-east Essex Primary Mini-Soccer Leagues.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.