ALVECHURCH manager Mick Preece fears his players will face another blank week as the rain continued to fall on a waterlogged Lye Meadow.

Church's Rameses Midland Invitation Cup tie against Warley was postponed a fourth time last week and the league match against Massey Ferguson went the same way at the weekend.

And the Alvechurch boss expects the second attempt to stage a Worcestershire Senior Urn match at Bromsgrove Rovers Reserves tomorrow (Thursday, ko 7.45pm) is doomed with the Rovers first team set to play at home on Saturday.

There was a time when cup matches had to be decided by a certain date, said the frustrated Church gaffer.

But the deadline for this one has been and gone without the County FA doing anything about it.

Striker Adam Ryder is out for at least a fortnight with a troublesome achilles problem and on-loan James Burke is facing a week on the sidelines with a niggling thigh injury.

Alvechurch are set to visit struggling Bolehall Swifts on Saturday (ko 2.45pm) but Preece fears his troops could suffer a repeat of their humiliating Challenge Cup defeat against Division Two outfit Enville.

We went into that game without any games under our belt and came unstuck, he added.

If we play on Thursday or Saturday it will be in a similar situation, training is just not the same as playing matches.