Allan Hale hopes it can be fifth time lucky for Huntly as they attempt to get their Scottish Cup first round tie with Cumbernauld Colts played tonight.
The Black and Golds will face the Lowland League side at Cove Rangers’ Balmoral Stadium this evening following four previous postponements at Christie Park due to snow and frost.
After previous attempts to get the tie played at an alternative venue didn’t come off Hale will be pleased to get the game played.
He said: “The club has worked tirelessly, the groundsman and the volunteers have put in a huge amount of work to try to get the pitch playable.
“We’re in the hands of the gods when it comes to the weather.
“We’ve had covers down over the goalmouths, but even with that it doesn’t seem to have been helping which is unfortunate.
“Myself, the chairman Gordon Carter and Alix Turner (club secretary) have all been phoning around various clubs trying to get a pitch available to us to host the game.
“It is frustrating and once again this week the weather hasn’t helped.
“Our pitch hasn’t been thawing out because of the weather and it’s frustrating because we want to get the game played.
“It’s been two weeks of trying to get the game played, we just want to get the tie over with.”
Huntly have been preparing for this tie since before Christmas.
Hale admits multiple postponements have been a far from ideal build up for his squad.
But with an away tie against League One side Dumbarton in Saturday’s second round up for grabs he hopes his players can make the most of their opportunity.
Hale added: “From the players’ perspective they work hard twice a week at training to prepare for the game on a Saturday.
“And we’ve now had six or seven training sessions and there’s been no game at the end of it as a reward for the players and to show what we’ve been working on.
“It’s definitely frustrating and Brora and Camelon will have experienced the same with their tie.
“This is no fault of Huntly’s and no fault of Cumbernauld’s it’s just the weather and the circumstances that we’ve had to deal with.
“We’ve talked enough about the incentive that’s there for both teams and the players have been training well.
“I’m really pleased with that and the spirit within the club is really positive just now.
“We’ve done our homework on Cumbernauld and they’re a very good side with a lot of good players.
“But we’re looking forward to the challenge, it will come down to who plays best on the day and hopefully that will be ourselves.”