Ardent football fans starved of action by the freeze have a chance to fit in two Ridgeons League derbies on Monday with Great Yarmouth Town kicking off at Norwich United’s Plantation Park at 11.30am and Gorleston starting their home match with Diss Town at 3pm at Emerald Park.

The Bloaters will be hoping to play only their second Premier Division match of the month at Plantation Park.

The match replaces the traditional Boxing Day fixture against Gorleston with Yarmouth’s promotion last season meaning that the two clubs are no longer in the same division.

Instead, new rivalries are drawn as Norwich United are deemed to be a local rival to Yarmouth by the Ridgeons League fixture devisers.

Town hope to bounce back from their 5-1 defeat to King’s Lynn Town in the Norfolk Senior Cup played on December 14, and the squad is likely to return to a more familiar line-up with the players settling their recent highly-publicised dispute over match expenses ( see page 54).

Also returning to the sidelines is manager Paul Tong after he left the reins to reserve manager Kevin Cruickshank as he showed his support for his players’ grievances.

Despite the players’ recent lack of action they should be in better match shape than United, who will be playing their first league match since November 20 with a 2-1 win at Anglian Combination North Walsham the only match the club has played this month.

Gorleston, who earned praise and respect for their performance in their home Norfolk Senior Cup defeat by Premier Division leaders Dereham Town, will be aiming to get more into the First Division promotion mix.

Richard Daniels’ Greens face a tough task. They are seventh with 22 points from 12 games to third-placed Diss’ 29 points from 14, making Monday’s clash a classic six-pointer.

All eyes, of course, will be on the weather and ground conditions.

Not only do players need matches under their belts, but the clubs need gate income – and no worries of fixture backlogs which could hamper the battle for league positions. And the traditional period for bad winter weather is yet to come!