The big freeze again left the area's outdoor sportsmen without games over the weekend, and it will need a rapid thaw for Ridgeons sides Dereham Town and Fakenham Town to cash in on tasty football derbies on Monday (kick-offs 3pm).

Dereham, topping the Premier Division, are due to entertain a Wroxham side trailing them by seven points in the race for the title, while Fakenham are keen to use their Norfolk Senior Cup performance against Norwich City to kick-start their climb up the First Division against visitors Swaffham, writes John Cushion.

The Pedlars, like the Ghosts, are in the bottom four. Fakenham have 13 points from 15 games, Swaffham 11 from 14.

The championship race seems to be a three-horse race with Leiston 15 points behind Dereham but with six games in hand.

Magpies' boss Matt Henman's fears that the derby against Wroxham may have been switched because of Norfolk Senior Cup congestion were allayed on Monday.

County cup ties normally take precedence over league games, but the Yachtsmen's much-postponed game with Cromer has been switched to January 8, leaving them free to do battle in a six-pointer at Aldiss Park on Monday.

Generally, Henman's squad is 'fit and raring to go, biting at the bit'. He was relieved to have played, and won, the Senior Cup tie at Gorleston, the side's only game in a month.

Different things have been tried in training, including indoor combat aerobics, which Henman described as 'interesting'.

Of the Wroxham league derby, Henman felt the sensible thing to do, with so many people wanting to see it, was to let it go ahead on Monday as originally planned. It should produce a bumper gate.

Dereham will then still have to play Wroxham away and Leiston twice, and Henman felt a fixture build-up would hurt Leiston in particular.

'We could put ourselves in a position where the pressure is really on them.'

At Clipbush Park, Fakenham manager Wayne Anderson said he could not have asked more of his side in their 3-0 cup defeat by Norwich City.

'This can kick-start our season. If we re-produce that we'll have no fears about being in the bottom three or four. Mid-table should be our aim and then we can push on again from that.'