Livingston and Hamilton Accies try again after late call-off

THE “Friday Night Football” First Division game between Livingston and Hamilton Accies was called off an hour before kick-off last night as the pitch at the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium was waterlogged after a day of incessant rain in West Lothian.

The clubs, however, will try again this afternoon, with Livingston chairman Gordon McDougall hoping that a brighter forecast for this morning will help dry the pitch out and see the game go ahead after a lunchtime inspection.

McDougall said: “First of all, I would like to apologise to the fans that were either at the ground or on their way there, but there was very little we could do as the rain just did not stop. We will try again on Saturday afternoon and we are hoping that we get the go-ahead.”

“It is a disappointing night as we would have possibly had a bigger attendance based on what was seen at the other Friday night games, but hopefully the fans can turn out this afternoon if the game goes ahead.”

The club’s director of football, John Collins, added: “I had driven through early from East Lothian and I could see there was a problem when the rain kept on coming.

“It is disappointing, as the players were getting stripped and we were going through our game plan.”

Accies had no qualms at all about agreeing to a quick rematch with club secretary Scott Struthers saying: “We got a call just before we arrived to say there could be a problem and should the game be called off would we be happy to go again on Saturday.

“By the time the game was called off we had everything in place to play on Saturday and there was a referee booked in for a Saturday lunchtime inspection.”