ELY City boss Alan Alsop believes there is only a 50:50 chance the Robins’ FA Vase clash with Spalding United will go ahead this weekend, despite a recommendation that the match be moved to Sunday.

The playing surface at the Unwin Ground remains under three inches of snow and will require moving late on Friday night and into Saturday morning if there is any chance that the match can go ahead.

Alsop said: “The pitch is still covered in snow at the moment to protect it but with the frost it is going to make it difficult.

“Cambridge United’s groundsmen tried to clear their pitch earlier in the week and they had to move 600 tonnes so that is the sort of task that is facing us, I’d say it is about 50:50 at the moment.”

Club officials will carry out a pitch inspection on Friday night and again on Saturday morning before a decision is made and an appeal for volunteers to help clear the snow has already been made.

A statement on the club’s website read: “Bring anything you can to help - shovels, brooms, rakes, ladles or improvisations. We are not starting until Friday as it is necessary to keep the snow in place to insulate the pitch from frost.

“If you cannot get to the club until after work we will be carrying on under floodlights.”

The Robins have suffered a glut of postponed fixtures since December and are facing the prospect of two games a week for much of the remainder of the season in order to clear the backlog.

See www.pitchero.com/clubs/elycity/ for more information about helping to clear the snow.