JUNIOR football is in the spotlight again as an almost total wipeout decimated Saturday’s fixtures again.

Now, with the Scottish Junior Cup taking priority, scheduled league matches will be put on the back burner.

Cumnock, who were due to host Arthurlie but will now be travelling to Girvan, arranged a friendly against Annbank at Townhead Park on Thursday, December 14, to give the team much-needed match practice before gaffer Peter Leonard’s return to his former club.

Glenafton, meanwhile, had provisionally arranged a friendly at Kilwinning Astro, against Irvine Meadow, in the event of both teams’ cup-ties being off.

That proved to be the case, although a possible change of venue for Meadow did not happen as their opponents, Dyce from Aberdeen, did not fancy travelling.

Craig McEwan will now take his side to Petershill on Saturday, which has been selected as the venue for Glens’ cup-tie away to Rob Roy.

Joining the idle clubs was Auchinleck Talbot, whose trip to Fife to play Hill of Beath Hawthorn was another victim of the weather.

On the good news front, Talbot were awarded an SFA Quality Mark for reaching a high standard in coaching their academy teams.

A spokesman for the club said: “Thank you to all our coaches, players, parents, helpers at the academy for your effort and commitment helping us gain Development Award Status.”

Back to the deep freeze and a junior football fans forum has been lively with debates and suggestions over the answer to the game’s winter woes.

One supporter said: “Looking at the long term weather forecast, and taking into consideration how the season has gone so far with games being off, I am not looking forward to the next few months.

“Some clubs have only played six league games so far, must be a nightmare for all concerned.

“Where do we go from here?”

Among the options put forward were ‘summer football’, ‘long-range weather forecast’, although this prompted a further discussion on the merits of our forecasters who ‘struggle to get it right 24 hours in advance’.

Another contributor added: “Just a thought but surely, when its pretty clear that games will be cancelled, that inspections can be done on Friday?

“Players have social lives too and especially at this time of year where early information would allow them to relax on a Friday night.”