New date set for Bairns league clash

Livingston’s Championship fixture at home to Falkirk has been scheduled for Tuesday, December 19 with a 7.45pm kick-off after the Tony Macaroni Arena surface failed to pass a pitch inspection on Saturday afternoon.

The game appeared likely to be on after a second inspection was arranged for 1.30pm but part of the surface was still frozen and the pitch was deemed unplayable.

Livi boss David Hopkin admitted that while the decision was a frustrating one for everyone, it was the correct call.

He said:“On Thursday we had a look and didn’t expect the weather to be as bad as it was and although the pitch really thawed out there was a wee patch in one of the penalty boxes that was still a bit hard.

“We could have probably started the game to be honest but the weather was only going to get colder and you’re then left looking at possibly not finishing the game because the surface freezes up again.

“We had a training session on the artificial surface at the back of the stadium and the temperature quickly dropped so there’s every chance the game wouldn’t have been finished.”

He added:“I think the logical thing was to leave it as long as possible to try and get the game ahead, especially with Falkirk being a short distance. It’s not something you can really help and it was frustrating for us because we would have liked to have played the game and tried to get back to winning ways after the defeat against St Mirren.”