JOINT-boss John Snape has backed Worcester City’s senior stars to cope with the workload of an ever-increasing fixture pile up.

Following Saturday’s eighth postponement in little more than seven weeks, City have up to six games in hand on other teams in the Midland Football League Premier Division.

The call-off left Worcester three matches behind leaders Coleshill Town, whose 3-1 win at South Normanton Athletic opened up an 11-point gap over fifth-placed City.

But despite 37-year-old Nathan Vaughan, 38-year-old Wayne Thomas and 41-year-old joint-manager Lee Hughes forming an important part of his team’s spine, Snape has no qualms over relying on the old guard.

“The reason they are still playing at their ages is that they have looked after themselves and stuck to a professional mentality,” said Snape.

“They will control their bodies in the same way professionals do and that involves being honest with themselves and us about what they can do.

“It will be down to us to have those conversations about who gets selected while working through any backlog."

With 14 weeks of the season to go Worcester have 22 league matches to fit in, a problem exacerbated by landlords Bromsgrove Sporting having 11 home league games to play as well as continued involvement in two cup competitions.

“The slots are getting filled up quite quickly and we have no control over the weather,” added Snape.

“With the number of games Sporting have coming up the pitch is going to take a battering. There are concerns about the state of the surface but not just at Bromsgrove, there will be a lot of difficult places to play at.

“Years ago, we would have played on that on Saturday but the referee quite fairly pointed out the ball would not have bounced properly.

“I had a look myself and it was that heavy I half expected to see crocodiles in the goalmouths. It was the right call because a game in those conditions would have destroyed it. Groundsmen all over the area will have their work cut out keeping surfaces on an even keel in the coming weeks.

“It will be a test of the strength in depth for all of the teams at the top end to get through all of the games that have been called off.

“There would have been plenty of twists and turns anyway which makes finding the consistency we are all after so much more important.

“I still believe any team down as far as Highgate has a chance of winning it and none of the top eight should be discounted. Bromsgrove had a little slip on Saturday and that goes to show how easily it can happen to any of the teams up there."