I’ll send league CCTV proof we tried for 36 hours to get game on
Martindale: We did all we could
daVId MarTIndaLe will send league bosses video evidence of Livingston’s 36-hour effort to get the clash with aberdeen to go ahead if they try to sanction his club.
The fixture fell foul of the conditions on Wednesday afternoon after the artificial surface at the Tony Macaroni was deemed unplayable, with around 10 per cent of the pitch frozen following overnight temperatures of minus six.
The Livi boss insists the Dons were fully aware of the situation prior to setting off from the Granite City at 10am.
But subsequent reports yesterday suggested the Pittodrie outfit were ready to ask the SPFL to ascertain whether the Lions adhered to every regulation relating to ensuring a match can go ahead.
Martindale said: “I could send them the CCTV footage of us working on the pitch for 36 hours. Would that do?
“Listen, Aberdeen were well informed of the situation on Tuesday as I texted Derek to give him updates on the park and the same goes for the SPFL.
“We had four tractors on the park at one point but when you’re getting temperatures of minus six, it’s tough.
“Water and ice is the worst thing for any park and with the people and machines on the pitch it actually trampled snow into it which turns into water and it freezes. That’s where the problem came.
“I’ve heard people asking about putting covers down but how do you get six inches of snow off the covers? You can’t put machines on them.”
When the suggestion of an SPFL investigation was raised, he added: “We’d be confident if they come to us and ask the question about it.”
McInnes now has another fixture to squeeze in to an already-packed calendar next month.
It has now been rescheduled for We d n e s d a y, January 13 but the Dons boss said: “We’d already changed on the i r request to make it a 4pm kickoffoff fromfro 7.45pm. We were thinkinthinking if they can’t get the pitch reready for a 4pm kick-off, how liklikely is it that it’s going to be readready for quarter to eight and thet temperature is droppidropping? Maybe then the pitch wwill be more dangerous.
“We didn’t see the reasoning or the rationaler that the pitch would beb less at risk to play the game by the referee. We knew the ttemperature would be drodropping again.”
MMcInnes was desperate to keep his side’s unbeaten lealeague run going and carry momentum into tomorrow’s clash with Dundee United.
He said: “Was it frustrating? Absolutely. While we knew that Livingston had concerns on the game on Tuesday, we weren’t travelling to the Wednesday morning anyway so we were just hoping that the pitch would be all right.
“We mentioned maybe having an earlier inspection and it was suggested to us that if we’d had an earlier inspection, then the likelihood is the game would have been cancelled.
“Livingston were confident the game had a good chance of being played the longer we left the inspection to give them more time to work on the pitch.
“We travelled in the hope the game would be okay. We were just about to start our team meeting and we got the call to say the match is not going to be passed fit.
“It happens. It’s not the first time you’ve travelled to a game and it’s been called off. I do think we gave it every chance and had we insisted on the 10am inspection, then it might have been a bit foolish if the pitch was going to be more ready come 2pm.”