This was the first game in the entire league to be called off this season and even though Stockport missed out on 80 minutes of rugby, Marsland believes it could benefit the side.

He said: “It's always disappointing when the games are called off.

“We put a lot of time and effort in during training that is specific to each team we play. So by the time Saturday comes you're looking forward to putting it into practice.

“In hindsight, not playing on Saturday now gives us chance to just rest up and try to shake off any niggles we've been carrying.

“We've got quite a small squad compared to most other clubs so it's good to get everyone back close to 100%, so hopefully this ‘break’ will have a positive impact!”

It has been well documented Stockport have had a huge amount of injuries this season and they were all set to welcome back Myles Hall and Mike Waddington from long term injuries before the weather played its part.

The break does allow more of the 1st XV experienced players to get back to full fitness ahead of this weekend’s game away against Chester.

The game against Hull Ionians was the only game postponed on the weekend which means Chester do have an extra 80 minutes of rugby under their belts, but Marsland thinks that won’t have any bearing on the game this weekend.

He added: “Hopefully with the added rest and prep time it should help us when we visit Chester on Saturday. I'm sure by the time Saturday comes we'll all be raring to go.”

Stockport have lost 16 of their 18 National Two North matches this season and were defeated by Chester 6-31 at Headlands Road earlier in the season.

As for the hosts on Saturday, they have won their last two matches and sit fourth in the league table, but Marsland feels the key to success this weekend is staying fully focused for the duration of the game.

“We were disappointed last time out against them,” said Marsland.

“We were well in the game up until the final 10 minutes where they punished some late errors and moved away from us.

“I think if we can put in a performance for a full 80 minutes we can definitely cause them problems and take some points away.”

Kick-off on Saturday at Hare Lane is 3pm.