Linnets boss Gary Setchell admitted he has never known anything like this season's big freeze – one that has seen the Evo-Stik Division One South season extended.

Officials confirmed on Monday the campaign will now finish on Saturday, May 4 – seven days later than originally planned – meaning Lynn travel to Market Drayton on April 27, before completing their season at Belper Town on the rearranged date.

A league statement said the decision was a reluctant one and 'must not been seen as a precedent for future seasons'.

But for Setchell, whose King's Lynn Town side host Kidsgrove Athletic on Tuesday night (7.45pm), the move makes sense.

'I've been involved the best part of 20-odd years at this sort of level and you usually have four or five bad weeks in January but then you've got February, March and April to recover the fixtures,' said Setchell. 'But I've never known it like this. You look at Lowestoft – they've still got 12 league games left. It's unbelievable really.

'Extending the season by a week is a great help and sensible. But it'll cause problems for some.'

Dates for the post-season promotion play-offs are yet to be announced – and should second place Lynn's pursuit of leaders Coalville Town ultimately fail, there may be holidays to postpone.

'I'm guessing the play-offs will be a week later too, which won't cause too many problems for us,' added Setchell. 'But if it's any later then you start to have lads due to go on holiday.

'I'm sure whoever is in the play-offs some of those clubs are going to have players missing, which will be unfortunate. But we're still hoping to put pressure on Coalville and maybe win the league so we don't need them.'

Skipper Richard Bunting is the only absentee for Tuesday's game with an ongoing groin problem. Lynn beat Kidsgrove 2-1 in October and head into the match protecting a 13-match unbeaten league run stretching back to mid-December.

'We want to make it 14, 15 and so on,' said Setchell. 'The law of averages says you probably have to lose one, but we feel in good form and the sooner the games come around the better.

'If someone had said at the start of the season you're going into April with a chance to win the league, no one would've believed us after being promoted last year. So to get 70 points from 32 games with another 30 points to play for, we have got a genuine chance this year.

'If we don't win the league we've got as good a chance as anyone in the play-offs, but at the moment we're firmly set on Coalville.

'Obviously it's still theirs to lose, but the more pressure we can apply the better for us.'