Mcpake’s fury as second call deems Dens unplayable
Dundee boss James Mcpake blasted underfire referee David Munro for his controversial Dens Park postponement – and revealed Ayr United and themselves had both AGREED to a later kick-off. Mcpake was left scratching his head following an astonishing few hours of events on Tayside, which ultimately led to their eagerly-awaited visit of the Honest Men being called off due to a waterlogged pitch. The Dens pitch had initially passed a 10.30am inspection by a local referee before Munro intervened and declared the pitch unplayable at 1.30pm, with Mark Kerr’s men already at the ground. Mcpake revealed both Kerr and himself were preparing for a delayed kick-off, only for Munro to rule out any such plans.
Mcpake said: “My real thing with this is the fact that, at 10.30am, the pitch was deemed playable.
“At that time, the local official had direct communication with the referee who was coming to do the game. “What the referee said is that it’s off due to surface water in a certain area. My question is why was that question not asked at 10.30am? “Basically, is there surface water on this pitch which is going to be a danger to both sets of players? And he (Munro) said he didn’t ask that question. I just can’t get my head round that.”
Mcpake is convinced the Dens groundstaff would have rectified the affected area of the pitch, and cited their Scottish Cup extra-time victory over East of Scotland outfit Bonnyrigg Rose the previous week when the surface was in worse condition.
He added: “It comes down to a lack of understanding, given the fact our groundstaff could have had an extra hour to work on it. “We actually played 120 minutes on that pitch against Bonnyrigg Rose when it was a lot worse.
“Mark Ker) was wanting to wait. He had his players on the bus ready to play an hour later. He couldn’t believe the game was off.” Munro defended his decision to postpone the game and claimed a later kick-off wouldn’t have improved matters. Munro said: “It’s hard for me to comment on an inspection which happened earlier this morning, having not been here.
“It was clear there was water lying in several areas, which was a danger to the players. “I was aware of a later kick-off perhaps being discussed by the clubs and the league.
“But I wasn’t involved in those discussions. “In my opinion, the situation wouldn’t have improved significantly enough during that point for the game to go ahead.”