Snow lies around the pitch at Bridge Avenue, having been cleared by fans to ensure Hornchurch's game went ahead (Gavin Ellis/TGS)

McBride: Snow-clearers ‘saved club £2,000’

Hornchurch chairman Colin McBride claimed the Urchins fans saved the club £2,000 with their sterling snow-clearing efforts.

Their Conference South fixture with Tonbridge remained in doubt until Saturday morning, but supporters had been out in force throughout the week to ensure the match could go ahead.

Lewis Smith’s goal earned the hosts a point and McBride was full of praise for the fans.

He said: “Without the supporters we wouldn’t have been able to play, there’s no doubt about that.

“In total there were about 50 out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning. Everyone mucked in and thankfully we manged to get the snow off the pitch and the game went ahead.

“If we had to postpone the game and play it on a Tuesday night it would have cost us ₤£2,000. That’s a huge amount of money for us.

“The fans have been absolutely superb and have always backed us 100 per cent. We can’t thank them enough, but a win would have been a nice way of doing that.”

McBride, who has joined manager Jimmy McFarlane on the touchline in recent weeks to help out, added that some of the players are still struggling to adapt to the step up in quality, having won promotion from the Ryman Premier League last season.

He added: “For many of the players this is their first season in the league. We’ve got a lot of young players and it’s a steep learning curve.

“But I’ve noticed real signs of improvement in recent weeks. I’m sure we’ve got enough quality to stay up.”