Brora Rangers manager Steven Mackay says the Cattachs were braced for the news of last night’s Scottish Cup first round tie against Camelon Juniors being postponed for the fifth time.
Despite the tie being switched to the astroturf surface at Westfield Park in Denny, a frozen pitch once again put paid to the match going ahead yesterday.
The match had originally gone ahead on Boxing Day at Camelon’s Carmuirs Park before being abandoned at half-time due to the conditions, with a further four postponements since.
Last night’s match was called off at lunchtime, before Brora’s team bus had set off.
Mackay, who works in Dunfermline, says the postponement of a nearby Lowland League fixture between Kelty Hearts and East Stirlingshire on Tuesday convinced him the Cattachs’ fixture would struggle to go ahead.
Mackay said: “The team had not set off. They were due to set off at about 2.30pm.
“We got the call just after 12 which was fine, it was enough time for us to put a hold on proceedings.
“I’m already down in the area so I was going to meet the team at the ground.
“They gave us plenty notice which was fine.
“I got up in the morning and went for a run, and it was absolutely baltic and pretty frosty.
“Throughout the morning I could tell the temperature wasn’t going to get up enough for the game to go ahead.
“Kelty are a couple of miles away from where I work, and they were due to play on Tuesday but their game was called off.
“That gave us a bit of an idea that with 24 hours to go, our game probably wasn’t going to go ahead.
“There’s not much we can do.”
The two sides will attempt to play the fixture at the sixth attempt on Saturday, meaning the second round tie which awaits the winner at home to Hearts will be moved to a later date.
Mackay is hopeful the game will go ahead but is wary of another cold forecast that lies ahead in the coming days.
He added: “It’s unfortunate, but it’s one of these things we can’t control and we’ve just got to be patient and wait for Saturday now.
“We will likely train tonight and see what happens on Saturday.
“The forecast is not great, Friday night is meant to be pretty cold. We will prepare accordingly and hopefully sixth time is a charm.”