With Presteigne St Andrews FC battling away towards the foot of the Spar Mid Wales League, second division table this season, it is easy to overlook the bigger picture as to how things are going in the league as a whole.
In an effort to rectify that, here is a quick round up of how things are looking at the top and bottom of the respective divisions as we head into the Christmas period.
Rhayader Town lead the way in the Spar Mid Wales League, first division and it is already looking like a straight fight between them and Montgomery Town for the title.
The Weirglodd side is one point clear of Monty heading into the Christmas period, but they have played a game more.
The gap between Montgomery Town in second and third-placed Llanidloes Town is 11 points and, even allowing for the fact Llani again have a game in hand over Montgomery, they are surely going to have to go on some run in the second half of the season to have a major bearing on the Championship race.
At the bottom, Aberystwyth University prop up the table, but they have three games in hand over second-bottom Welshpool Town and are only a point behind them.
With the demise of Penparcau shortly before the start of the season, it might well prove the case that only one side is relegated, although this will largely depend on which clubs come down from the Cymru Alliance.
Dyffryn Banw are third-bottom and could yet be sucked into the relegation battle, while Dolgellau and Tywyn Bryncrug will probably both feel they still have a bit to do.
Knighton Town top the second division table – they are two points clear of Four Crosses, but the Montgomeryshire club has three games in hand over Martin Hall’s men.
In fact, the top of division two could change radically if games in hand are taken into account – third-placed Aberaeron and Llandrindod Wells in fourth each have six games in hand over Knighton.
At the bottom of the table it is looking grim for Meifod who have only three points and who are shipping an average of more than five goals per game, while Bont are just above them and are only two points better off.
While Presteigne have a seven-point cushion over the bottom two, there should be no complacency in the Llanandras Park camp as both Bont and Meifod will pick up points somewhere along the line and so there is still work to be done.
As for who might be joining the Spar League next season, well, Hay St Marys look a fair bet, but Penybont are also very much in the running in the Mid Wales League (South).
Hay are a point clear of the ‘bont as they head into Christmas, but the Racecourse-based side has two games in hand over Hay, so could yet open out a healthy lead.
It is pretty much a straight fight between these two as none of the next four clubs in the table – Builth Wells Reserves, Newcastle, Rhayader Town Reserves and Llandrindod Wells Reserves are eligible for promotion.
It is, perhaps, a sad reflection of the times that – as mentioned above – as Penparcau disappeared from the Spar League, so we saw the demise of Sennybridge in the ‘South’ as they failed to raise a side for the game against Presteigne Reserves on Saturday, 1 October and then formally withdrew the following week.