OXFORD City Council will be asked to grant an extension on the use of the area’s football pitches.

Traditionally, goalposts on council pitches are taken down at the end of April.

However, the Oxford Mail Youth League say the poor weather has left them with a 400-game backlog.

Now Paul Lyon, the league’s fixtures and referees’ secretary, is set to plead for more time.

He said: “We asked them (the council) to move the date last year and were turned down, but we haven’t had a conversation about it this year. “I will speak to Phil Jones (the council’s community development manager) later this week and ask if we can move the finish date for the league.

“At the moment, the league is due to finish on May 18, but the council pitches in Oxford close at the end of April, so some Oxford teams may have to play their matches outside the city.

“We’ve lost about 400 games since the turn of the year. That’s four whole weeks of football we’ve lost, so we really need an extra month to catch up.

“We’d like them to move it, but they are typically quite inflexible and the date seems to be set in stone.”