Formartine United were unable to go to the top of the Breedon Highland League after their clash with Inverurie Locos was abandoned due to floodlight failure at North Lodge Park.
With the clash between the division’s top two – Brechin City and Banks o’ Dee – postponed, the Pitmedden side would have gone to the summit with a win.
However, referee Owen Lawrence abandoned the derby between United and the Railwaymen with the score at 1-1 prior to the second half starting because one of the floodlights wasn’t working.
All of the floodlights went out in the 26th minute and the game continued in the fading daylight until five of the six floodlights fired back into life eight minutes later.
However, the other light didn’t come back on which left part of the pitch in darkness.
At half-time, Formartine erected a temporary light to try to allow game to be played to a finish, but after 15 minutes of consultation between the referee and both teams the fixture was abandoned.
‘No right decision’
United boss Stuart Anderson said: “There’s no right or wrong decision. It’s frustrating for everyone that’s here, but we just need to deal with it and the game will be rearranged at some point.
“It would have been tricky in the second half with the way the weather was. I think both sets of players were keen to get going, but you can understand the decision.
“There’s two sides to it. If you’d won it would be great, but if you’d lost you’d have wanted it off.”
Inverurie manager Dean Donaldson added: “I’m not sure if it’s the right call, but if there’s a doubt about it then maybe there’s no doubt and it’s the right call to put it off.
“I think Formartine players felt they couldn’t see the ball in midfield, so if that’s the case then it’s the right call.
“We were keen to play, I think the weather turned in our favour for the second half, so we’re disappointed we couldn’t play.”
First half action
Inverurie took the lead after only six minutes with Jay Halliday’s defence-splitting pass releasing Myles Gaffney on the left side of the area, and he finished tidily into the bottom right corner.
However, in the act of scoring, the on-loan Cove Rangers striker sustained an ankle ligament injury and had to be replaced by Sam Robertson.
In the 34th minute, Locos could have doubled their advantage when Cole Anderson cracked a shot against the crossbar from the edge of the box.
Four minutes shy of the interval, United restored parity. Julian Wade charged down goalkeeper Blessing Oluyemi’s attempted clearance with Dylan Lobban collecting the loose ball.
He found fellow Aberdeen loanee Adam Emslie on the right flank and his dangerous cross was finished off by the sliding Wade at the back post.
But that was all action because the second period didn’t start.
Reflecting on the 45 minutes of action and Gaffney’s injury, Donaldson said: “I thought we played well, we stuck to our identity of how we want to play.
“Unfortunately Myles seems to have done his ankle ligaments. Hopefully it’s not too bad for Myles, but we’ll wait and see.”
Giving his assessment, Anderson added: “I thought we were a wee bit iffy, we had a fair bit of pressure, Inverurie had a couple of chances on the break, but there wasn’t much in the game.”
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