LET’S try that again shall we?

After a near total washout of football fixtures last weekend and general issues with weather in the last few weeks, the conditions look to be favourable for Saturday in Devon (touch wood, fingers crossed and all the rest).

Buckland Athletic and Bovey Tracey AFC’s respective FA Vase ties are delayed by just seven days with the only difference being that now, they have an idea of who they could face in the next round if all goes well.

The pair are both playing at home this weekend and that will be the case once again, should they make their way into round four.

After a sticky few games, Buckland now find themselves behind their opponents in the Western League standings, Barnstaple Town occupying fifth and the Bucks seventh. Two places and two points separate them plus Barum have two games in hand to cash in.

Having fulfilled both league meetings already, Matt Cusack’s side have the upper hand thanks to an away win, the two then sharing the spoils at Homers Heath in a six-goal thriller.

Whoever prevails in Newton Abbot on Saturday afternoon would host AFC Stoneham of the Wessex Football League Premier on Saturday, January 17.

Stoneham, from Eastleigh in Hampshire, have won five on the spin including Vase successes over Kidlington FC and Cinderford Town, beating the latter 4-0 on Saturday, December 6. They are top of their league with just two defeats to their name so they will be a difficult team to face regardless.

Bovey meanwhile, continue to pull up trees in this prestigious knockout competition and they’ll look to continue doing just that when Downton FC arrive at the Western Counties Roofing Ground.

Downton play in the Wessex Football League alongside the aforementioned Stoneham and sit 11th at the time of writing.

Next for the winner of that one is a home clash with either Slimbridge AFC or Amesbury Town.

Slimbridge, of the Hellenic League, dispatched of Ivybridge Town previously and are second in the league, two points behind Roman Glass St. George and with four games in hand.

On the other hand, Amesbury are from Wiltshire and currently ply their trade in the Wessex League Division One, occupying 14th, thus making them the more favourable opponent on paper.

Away from the Vase and there was no league action for Newton Abbot Spurs, Teignmouth AFC, Ivybridge Town, Stoke Gabriel & Torbay Police or Okehampton Argyle.

In fact, Stoke have now faced three successive postponements so they will be particularly keen to get back out there.

Starting in the Western League where the Ivies will be travelling away to face Bradford Town.

Bradford are just two points behind Ben Washam and Brad Gargett’s side but that only tells half of the story as they’ve played 22 games to Ivybridge’s 19.

The Greens won the reverse clash at Erme Valley 3-1 thanks to first-half goals from Kaycee Ogwu and Cameron Patterson (2).

Victories in their last two, against Helston Athletic and Shepton Mallet, provide further promise to the travelling Ivybridge supporters.

Onto the South West Peninsula League and, as previously mentioned, it has been a while since the Stoke players last kicked a ball.

Despite this, cup action and cancellations for other sides means they’ve hardly fallen behind, still sitting third in the midst of a crucial winter period.

Having put six past Ilminster Town in the League Cup and then beating them 3-2 in the league a month ago, the Bees will once again take a trip to the Archie Gooch Pavilion.

Okehampton Argyle losing starting goalkeeper Jack Arthur to local rivals Tavistock AFC was certainly a blow but they still have a source of optimism for their meeting with Middlezoy Rovers, having drawn 0-0 in the reverse away from home.

Newton Spurs and Teignmouth AFC, who will go toe-to-toe on Boxing Day at Coombe Valley, have fixtures against Torrington AFC and Honiton Town respectively.

Ironically, Spurs were supposed to play Honiton last time out and vice-versa for Teignmouth and Torrington.

14th-placed Teignmouth are away at ninth-placed Honiton whilst fifth-placed Spurs welcome 11th-placed Torrington to The Rec.