Following a pitch inspection this morning, this evening’s National League South fixture at Chippenham Town has been postponed.

Given the extreme weather the country has been experiencing, the Chippenham Town pitch was deemed unplayable for tonight’s match. A new date will be announced in due course.

When an unbeaten record ends, you start another one. And, with all the teams in the top seven of the National League South held together by some kind of invisible glue, Torquay United go to Chippenham Town tonight with exactly that aim.

Top today are Boreham Wood, with Torquay in third, Worthing in fourth and Eastbourne Borough in fifth. All five teams are stuck together on 52 points. and fifth-placed Maidstone United went second after a goalless draw with Chelmsford City on Monday night took them to 52 points, while Dorking Wanderers in sixth and Truro City in seventh both have 49 points.

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It is unusual that no one has been able to break away and extend a lead at the top of the table by the eve of February - but to be fair, there are three complete months of the season to go and anything could happen yet.

One player who is excited to be taking on this end-of-season challenge is new striker Matt Jay - the Torbay-born former Exeter City captain who joined the Gulls from Colchester United last week and made his debut in Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat by Hampton & Richmond Borough.

Talking to his new club’s website, 27-year-old Jay said: “Once I heard it was able to be done, I jumped at the chance and came straight down. I have brought all the family down and we are more than happy to be back. Torquay are a club that shouldn’t be at the level that they are, and I think I have been brought in to try and get them somewhere around where they should be. The project here is really good, it’s highly professional.”

It was somewhat a baptism of fire for Jay on Saturday though when Torquay’s unbeaten home record - and the 14-game unbeaten run home and away - was broken by Hampton. But Jay looked up for it from the off in his first start - and it still remains remarkable that Torquay didn’t score in that game. Now all thoughts have turned to three points at Chippenham, who actually did the Gulls a favour by beating Boreham Wood 3-1 on Saturday.

Manager Paul Wotton said after Saturday’s game: “It’s a crazy league. Normally by now leagues are starting to stretch out. You get, not a clear runaway winner, but you are starting to get little gaps. A mixed day of results today, wasn’t it? Coupon busters.

“We have got to stay calm and we have got to stay level, stay humble - keep working. There are deficiencies in our game, there are deficiencies in every team’s game - but I thought we were fantastic today.”

With defenders Jordan Dyer and Jay Foulston injured for Saturday’s game, Ed Palmer and Finley Craske were given starting places. It will be interesting to see if Dyer or Foulston can make this one. Up front Jay and Cody Cooke were solid - but when 20-year-old Manny Ilesunmi came on for a late cameo, the Derby County loanee looked excellent. Wotton might be wondering whether he is worth a start at Chippenham.

Chippenham are 15th in the table, and 17 points below the Gulls, so on paper Torquay should be odds-on for a win there tonight. But, as the 4,450 fans who packed out Plainmoor on Saturday saw, it doesn’t always work that way. We shall see.