At long last, the Vodkat League has seen some action in 2010 - courtesy of AFC Blackpool.
The Mechanics pitch at Jepson Way has long had the reputation of hosting games when everywhere else doesn't, and they came up trumps again on Saturday, with the Seasiders' game at home to Irlam turning out to be the only game that survived the continuing wintry conditions.
So what is the secret? AFC Blackpool Secretary Billy Singleton says it's all down to the hard work of the officials at the club, coupled with an excellent drainage system.
Billy explained: "We installed new drains at the beginning of last season and they have really done their job. There really was a lot of snow and ice on the pitch in the middle of the week, it was really thick, and you wouldn't have believed it could all have drained away so quickly.
"On Thursday I went to the ground and it was covered in snow and ice and I thought at that point we might struggle to get the game on.
"There was a lot of ice on the hard standing areas around the pitch too, so a few of us who were down on Thursday night got spades and started to break the ice up a bit, to help it drain away when the thaw began.
"I went down again on Friday and the snow and ice had completely gone, but the pitch was completely waterlogged. I knew our drainage was good and that it would drain away, but it rained most of Friday so I arranged a pitch inspection for Saturday morning at 10 o'clock.
"I got there about quarter to ten on Saturday morning and I couldn't believe how good the pitch was. The water had all drained away, and when I walked on the pitch it wasn't even soft. So we started marking it out straight away, and I rang Irlam, the referee and the league to let them all know the game was on.
"As the morning wore on we got loads of calls from people asking if the game was on, it was obvious there were a lot of people anxious to take in a game, and we certainly got a bigger attendance than we might have expected normally.
"The Irlam players and officials couldn't believe it when they turned up and saw the condition the pitch was in. Throughout the game the pitch stood up really to the game, there was no water or mud for the players to contend with and it wasn't damaged at all afterwards. On Sunday our under 16's played a league game on it too. It's still fine, it just needs rolling now, but there's still no bare patches or mud on it.
"On top of that we turned in a good team performance to beat Irlam, so it was a good weekend all round".
In the game itself, Marc Beattie scored the only goal of the game after 22 minutes, and almost doubled his side's tally shortly afterwards when he fired a shot off the post. Irlam enjoyed spells of pressure in what was an evenly contested game, and spurned a chance to draw level ten minutes from time when they were awarded a penalty.
But AFC Blackpool keeper Daniel Allen made a fine two handed save to push the ball round the post from the resultant spot kick, which in the end proved to be decisive.
