Livingston boss David Martindale says Aberdeen travelled knowing match was at risk of postponement

Livingston manager David Martindale says Aberdeen were made aware that their Scottish Premiership match at the Tony Macaroni Arena was in danger of being called off before they travelled.

The Livingston v Aberdeen match was called off around 90 minutes prior to kick off due to a frozen pitch at the Tony Macaroni Arena. (Photo by Bill Murray / SNS Group)

A pitch inspection was called for 2pm ahead of the 4pm kick-off with some parts of the artificial surface impacted due to heavy snow fall and freezing temperatures which have hit the Lothians in recent days.

Livingston’s pitch staff were still working on those areas which don't get the sun, according to the club’s Twitter account.

However, it was deemed unplayable by referee Steven McLean and the match was postponed.

Aberdeen were going through their pre-match preparations at Norton House Hotel on the outskirts of Edinburgh when the decision was made.

However, Livingston boss Martindale revealed that the Dons were briefed of the potential threat to the match before travelling down from the north-east.

Speaking to BBC Sportsound, Martindale said: “We’re gutted because we’ve been working on the park since nine o’clock yesterday morning. Contractors were in until quarter to two in the morning and we were back in at half seven this morning.

“There’s been a massive improvement on the park, but there’s maybe five or 10 per cent the ref doesn’t think is safe, and, to be honest, I’ve got to agree with him.

“We all muck in together here. My daughter was even in helping us, she’s eight years old.

“We were desperate to get the game on. We kept in contact with Derek [McInnes] and Steven Gunn at Aberdeen, telling them the ongoing situation. They were quite happy to travel knowing the game could potentially be put off.

“Everybody was willing to give it until the last minute to try and get the game on, which is good of everybody, especially Aberdeen agreeing to travel knowing this could happen.

“We’ve tried our best, but unfortunately the weather’s beat us.

“I was in a nine o’clock this morning and it was -6 in Livingston. As soon as I saw the temperature gauge I thought, ‘we’re in trouble here’. All the work that was done last night took two steps backwards.

"It was a big ask to get it on and if we did play it was a bit unsafe for most of the players.”

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