West Ham United's Under-18s will finally, weather permitting, play their first fixture of 2010 when Fulham visit Little Heath on Saturday morning.
Tony Carr's side saw their trip to Arsenal cancelled last weekend and, with an FA Youth Cup fourth-round tie against Queens Park Rangers at the Boleyn Ground on Tuesday to look forward to, the Academy Director said his players are raring to go.
"We have had a bit of rain this week to add to the snow we had before, but we've managed to get out and train on the grass at Little Heath on Thursday and Friday and we're hopeful that the game will go ahead," said Carr.
"We've had a break over Christmas and been forced to train in the gym, so we were all delighted to get back out on the pitches this week."
With so little football played since before the holiday season, Carr is eager for his players to get some competitive match practice ahead of Tuesday's cup tie.
"A lot of people have asked me if I'm going to rest players on Saturday with QPR coming up on Tuesday, but the boys have not had much football recently, so the only risk is just that they may get injured against Fulham," he said.
"Fulham had their FA Youth Cup game at Bolton on Thursday night. They drew 2-2 and then won on penalties, so they've had a long journey. I wonder if they might do what I did after the Plymouth game in the third round and play some of their younger boys."
Carr has a fully-fit squad to choose from aside from forward Cristian Montano, who twisted his knee in training on Thursday and will be left out as a precaution ahead of the visit of QPR.
Kick-off at Little Heath is at 11am, with admission and car parking both free of charge.