Fakenham Town might have a second successive blank Saturday coming up – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for manager Wayne Anderson, writes Gareth Davis.

The Ghosts had an unscheduled absence five days ago when their Thurlow Nunn Premier Division trip to Stanway Rovers was postponed owing to an unplayable pitch. This Saturday’s gap in the fixture schedule has been there since the start of the campaign but by the time Fakenham welcome Kirkley & Pakefield to Clipbush Park on January 17, Anderson hopes to have a complete complement of players to choose from.

He said: “We have had a few injuries with Matty Franks’s groin, Stephen Harvey having an ankle problem, we are without Robbie Harris (broken hand, cast scheduled to come off on January 14), plus Matty Dye and Kyle Plumb are building their fitness up so not playing again is a good and bad thing for us.

“You want to have matches but as we don’t we can rest those boys who need a rest and put them through fitness tests in the right manner rather than in games where they can get kicked a lot.”

For those who are fully fit, the break in games does not mean a break in work as they were put through their paces with what Anderson describes as an “intense” fitness session at Bircham Newton this week – with the dose to be repeated ahead of the Kirkley clash.

“We’ll be working indoors because our pitch needs a break too,” added Anderson.

“Our groundsman Chris Cracknell has done a brilliant job on the pitch and we need to keep that in shape because the games will be coming thick and fast again soon.”

Several first-teamers are likely to be involved for Fakenham’s reserves in Saturday’s Anglian Combination Division Three fixture away to Yelverton.

Plumb, Shane Akers and Jake Wiseman could feature, just as Ashley Jarvis and Danny Williams did in last Saturday’s 4-3 defeat at home to Blofield United Reserves.