Referee was right as rain
Glens boss accepts call to abandon vital game
Rutherglen Glencairn manager Willie Harvey was left frustrated at the decision to abandon his side’s crucial game with Cumbernauld but agreed it was the right call.
The Celsius Stadium boss was stunned when he emerged with his players from the changing room after the warm-up to witness the heavens open up over the Guys Meadow pitch which started to gather standing water.
The referee allowed the game to start but was aware the amount of rain on the turf was putting the remainder of the match in doubt.
To the annoyance of the Glens contingent, the man in the middle called a halt to the game with 15 minutes played, after Jay McKay had given them an early lead.
However, despite going ahead from the penalty spot in what was a mustwin game for Harvey’s men in their search for promotion, the Glencairn gaffer admitted the ref made the right call.
“The referee’s decision was 100 per cent correct,” he said. “There was no ifs buts or maybes about it.
“The annoying thing was that we were winning and you know it’s your day when you start as well as we did. But we cannot do anything about the weather conditions and we have no complaints about the decision.
“The park was bone dry when we went in but the rain just came lashing down straight after that.
“The park was really hard, and it was
tight too, so when the rain came down it had nowhere to go and couldn’t sink in to the ground.”
The rearranged fixture will now take place on Monday, May 22, with a 7.30pm kick off and Cumbernauld United have announced there will be free entry to the match.
The Glens dropped in to second place in the Super First Division table as the teams around them picked up valuable points – with some also dropping points.
Clydebank hammered Maryhill 5-0 to take up pole position while Kilsyth suffered a shock 5-1 defeat away to Petershill.
The Gers, who sit a point behind Glencairn in third, have failed to win in their last six games and are set to play their match in hand tonight, Wednesday, against already-relegated Blantyre Victoria.
Shettleston, on the other hand, have been knocked out of the race altogether after they lost to Irvine Victoria at the weekend.
But Girvan are lurking just a point behind Glens with two games in hand.
Looking at the league table, Harvey admitted there is only a glimmer of hope for his side to gain promotion to the Super Premier Division.
But the manager knows all they can do is win their rearranged tie with Cumbernauld to put pressure on their rivals.
“I would agree that there is a slim chance, an outside chance,” Harvey admitted. It is frustrating because if we had won on Saturday we would have finished our league games top of the league and that would have been a positive to take, just in case things don’t work out. So it would have been just a psychological thing for us to be top. We can’t do much. All we can do is wait and see what happens.
“Petershill need to win their last two games and Kilsyth are on a bit of a downward spiral.
“They might have Blantyre Victoria to play but everyone who has played them this season knows they are not a bad team.”
On a positive note for the club, Harvey has secured the services of players Sean McGuire and Jamie Hamilton for another year.
The Glens boss is expected to sign up more of the current squad for next season in the coming weeks and hopes to reveal the news soon.