Chorley's game at Darlington this weekend is postponed, as a number of non-league fixtures fall foul of the weather

​The Magpies – whose game at Darlington this weekend is postponed due to a frozen pitch – revealed at the beginning of 2025 that the 84 points they accumulated and 83 goals they scored over the course of the last calendar year was a club record.

Preece’s men came close to securing promotion to the National League during the 2023/24 campaign, finishing fourth in the table.

They bowed out of the subsequent play-offs at the semi-final stage, losing 1-0 at Brackley Town.

However, this season they have continued where they left-off. At the end of the November, they led the NL North table.

Although a couple of bad results, together with a postponement and abandonment, have seen Chorley slip to one place outside the play-offs, they are still right in the promotion mix.

The Magpies are just seven points behind league leaders Curzon Ashton with a game in hand.

Preece knows that if his men can rediscover their form for the vast majority of last year, then they will be challenging for the title again this season.

“The last year we have done fantastically well,” said Preece. “Finishing fourth in the league, obviously it was disappointing to lose in the play-offs but away at Brackley was always going to be difficult.

“If you’re going to lose somewhere; that is a tough place to go.

“I think a lot of it this season comes from losing the players that we did last summer, losing Jack Hazlehurst, Carlton Ubaezuonu, Justin Johnson – people probably thought this is tough, year-on-year we keep losing our best players.

“But the attitude was, ‘We’re going to have to stick together and fight our way through this’.

“To be fair, the lads who have come in have been fantastic. Our recruitment has been great and we’re still bang in there this season challenging for promotion.”

Meanwhile, Chorley’s game at the Quakers this weekend was called off following a lunch-time pitch inspection by a qualified referee.

Their game is one of a host of non-league fixtures to fall foul of the freezing weather conditions.

​AFC Fylde have confirmed the postponement of their scheduled National League clash against Sutton United, while Southport’s National League North encounter against Leamington at Haig Avenue has also fallen foul of the weather.

Other games to be called off include Lancaster City’s NPL Premier Division clash at home to Prescot Cables.

In the North West Counties, tonight’s First Division North derby clash between Garstang and Euxton Villa at the Riverside was postponed, while Charnock Richard’s clash on Saturday afternoon at Barnoldswick Town has also been called off.