A trip to the sunshine may scupper any hopes of a quick rematch between Kilmarnock and Motherwell after their match at Rugby Park was abandoned last night.
The game was brought to a halt just after half-time as a thick blanket of fog descended on the stadium, and both clubs will meet with the SPFL tomorrow to discuss their options. With both sides out of the Scottish Cup, they are free this weekend, but Kilmarnock’s planned trip to Tenerife makes the likelihood of a quick rearranged fixture unlikely.
“I doubt we’ll play this Saturday very much,” said Killie assistant manager Alex Dyer. “I don’t think that’ll happen.
“We have no complaints. It was the right call, 100 percent. “You have to think of the safety of the players and the supporters.”
After a glorious day in Ayrshire, the last thing the punters turning up at Rugby Park would have expected was the match to be abandoned, but not even an artificial surface is much cop when you can’t see either end of the pitch from the centre circle.
Fortunately, neither team were leading at the time of the abandonment, which meant both sets of fans could boo the decision just as enthusiastically as they had been booing the decision to restart the match after the break moments earlier. Who could blame them for at least getting some entertainment from their wasted trip out of the house?
It was in the latter stages of a first half that Kilmarnock had started well before Motherwell seized control that the first inkling the match could be in jeopardy emerged, as the floodlights caught the fog coming in high over the pitch. As referee John Beaton blew his whistle for the break, it had quickly escalated into a real concern that the players wouldn’t reappear for the second half.
Through what had turned into a real pea-souper you could just about make out that they had in fact done so, but the reaction from supporters as the match got back underway told you everything about their view of proceedings.
With a little over 30 seconds of the half gone, referee Beaton brought play to a halt. He gave it a short period to see if the haze would lift, but after 12 minutes, the call was made to send the punters home.
Beaton said: “We came out midway through the half-time break just to see what it was like at pitch level and at that point it probably looked okay.
“We went back in and spoke to both managers just before the second half obviously with the intention that we would start the game.
“I think the Motherwell fans told us that they could not see the game and that was the first sign of a problem.
“Both assistant referees told me that they could not see the opposite side of the field. That becomes a problem for offside decisions and at that point it was not to be bad in the middle of the field, but when the ball went into the air, it was difficult to pick it out coming out of the sky.
“So, that is why I stopped the game.”
Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson had no complaints, but he was still left frustrated as his side had ended the first half in the ascendency.
Robinson said: “What can you do? You can’t control the weather. John made the right decision.
“You can’t play in that. You couldn’t see the other side of the pitch so for linesmen to make decisions it would have been difficult so there was no choice.
“We didn’t start well but then I thought we dominated and passed it around really well.
“I might not have been as accommodating if we’d been up 1-0 but we will get replay date sorted and go again.”
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