Bradford PA manager Mark Bower has explained why he could not put out a team to play York last Sunday. Hereford's Josh Gowling was in a similar position unable to play Kidderminster.
“We had bad news come through with Covid on Friday night and Saturday
morning, and it meant that we’d have been left with nine outfield
players, our two goalkeepers, and one member of coaching staff for the
game against York," said Bower.
“We’d played through up until then, and we had a couple of lads missing due to Covid for our draw at Guiseley last week.
“We wanted to play as many games as we could in this little period, as there’s so many to accommodate and it’s not ideal having a load of midweek games later in the season due to call-offs now.
“But with Covid, and injuries, you just have to accept that there’ll be times when we’re understrength later in the season, and we’ll probably play against teams who have a few missing too.
“We’ll all have to deal with it, and we don’t want a fixture pile-up, so as long as we have 14 fit players (as the National League’s Covid-19 protocols require for the game to go ahead), then we’ll fulfil our games.
"Even though we have a small squad, we’re not the only ones suffering, as Fylde had to call their game off on Sunday due to a Covid outbreak at the club, and they’re at the opposite end of the scale to us in terms of finances and resources.
“It affects everyone, and we’ve played games when others had been called off due to Covid, that’s just the way it goes.”