Angry Ross County demand 'win' after farce at Palmerston

Published on Wednesday 20 April 2011 21:09

ROSS County last night urged the Scottish Football League to award them a victory after Tuesday night's farce at Palmerston.

The SFL board meets this morning to discuss, among other issues, the bizarre floodlight failure that struck County's clash at Queen of the South for a second time.

The jinxed fixture was first postponed in January, with County having travelled more than halfway to Dumfries by bus.

A rescheduled Tuesday night tie in February was abandoned after 63 minutes when a generator in the main stand went up in smoke. And relegation-threatened County were left enraged on Tuesday night after the same fault flared up after 69 minutes, with the Dingwall side leading 2-0.

Victory would have pushed County to the verge of safety in the First Division, four points above rivals Cowdenbeath. It would also have meant they would definitely have been spared the play-off position with a last-day victory over the Fifers.

County director of football George Adams is convinced the points should now be awarded to his club, rather than hit them with a fourth trek to Dumfries this season. Jimmy Calderwood's players only arrived home at 3am yesterday after the 12-hour round trip was in vain.

Adams said: "I've spoken to the authorities today, as has our chairman Roy MacGregor. There's an SFL meeting tomorrow and there will be a full investigation into exactly what happened.

"To be honest, it's an absolute disgrace - an embarrassment. I spoke to the SFL this morning and made my feelings known. They've got all the facts and, hopefully, they will avoid punishing us again.

"It is within their power - within the rules - to award Ross County the victory.

"I think we should set aside any talk of it being our game in hand over Cowdenbeath and all the rest of it. That's irrelevant.

"Let's take Cowdenbeath out of the equation and not get sidetracked. It should be about a plain and simple consideration of this Ross County against Queen of the South match and the circumstances surrounding it.

"We've done nothing wrong, but are we going to be penalised again for this? Ross County Football Club are an innocent party.

"It's so disappointing. We played very well and were heading towards what would have been a hugely-significant victory for us. Instead, there is a risk we will face having to do it all over again. It could be hugely-significant to the club's future."

Queens chairman David Rae insists extensive tests of Palmerston are planned to see why the power failed again. A rogue fuse that resulted in the floodlights going out has been blamed for the game being called to a halt, and Rae said: "It turns out it's a fuse that's gone again and we're running tests by putting on all the power inside the stadium.That means turning on the heating, cooking equipment, all the hospitality equipment and the lights to carry out a test.

"The last time the fuse went we renewed them all and if it's an overload of power going to one fuse then we'll have to sort it out. It's just so strange that it should happen again against the same team. It's extremely disappointing for the visiting club and their fans, especially because they were 2-0 up with 20 minutes to go."