The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Dampener denies Dons
Game off: McInnes frustration as Reds deprived of quick recovery chance
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is frustrated his Reds have been denied the chance to make amends for Monday’s defeat in Inverness after today’s scheduledgameatPartickThistle was postponed yesterday due to waterlogging.
Referee Bobby Madden called off the game after a 4pm inspection. It would have been Aberdeen’s second away match in the space of five days but the manager and his players were hugely frustrated when it was called off after a day of incessant rain in Glasgow.
McInnes, pictured, said: “We were ready for the match and we wouldn’t have been tired. We had done a lot of preparation and had trained well. We had settled on the team and we were all looking forward to the game. We wanted thegameon. There were far more reasons whywe wanted the game to be on than not.”
Despite his f rustration, McInnes felt referee Madden made the right decision to call off the match. The Aberdeen manager added: “We were worried about the weather and the pitch for most of the day.
“I spoke to Alan Archibald, the Partick Thistle manager, and he said he felt the pitch would have been playable at lunchtime. But it just couldn’t cope with the amount of rain that fell during thedayandthe right decisionwas made.
“It certainly couldn’t have been made any later. We were pushing for an earlier inspection as our supporters would have had to leave Aberdeen between 3pm and 4pm to get to Firhill.”
This was the fifth match Partick have had called off since the start of December and the fourth at Firhill, which has been badly affected by the wet winter weather.
The Jags could drop to second bottom if Kilmarnock beat Dundee this afternoon, although they would have four games in hand. Details of a new fixture date are yet to be confirmed but it is likely to be arranged for Saturday, March 5, whenboth sides have a free weekend having already been knocked out of the Scottish Cup.
Neil Simpson, head of Aberdeen’s youth academy and a member of the Aberdeen side which won the 1983 European Cup-Winners’ Cup, took to social media after the postponement urging Scottish football to consider switching its calendar after a recent raft of postponements.
He said: “Summer football should be firmly on the next think- tank agenda. Better pitches, light nights, more practice time. Makes sense? Not in Scotland.” Caley Thistle captain Richie Foran could make a return before the end of the season.
The Irishman’s playing prospects for the remainder of the season had appeared bleak when he suffered a calf injury in training, just weeks after completing his recovery from a long-term knee injury.
The 35-year-old has not started a game in nearly two years and has made just four substitute appearances this season but InvernessmanagerJohnHughes is now hopeful the Irishman could yet play a part before the end of the campaign.
Hughessaid: “Richie is in rehab and we’re hoping he’ll be back in the next two or three weeks. He always works hard. That’s where the frustration comes from because I know what he has been through.
“When he had the knee problems, there were needles going in to drain the fluid but he was really brave. He just rolled his sleeves up and got on with it. Given his age, and trying to get back from the injury having been out for a long time, Richie just needs to take his time.”
Caley Jags attacker Alex Fisher willneedsurgery. He suffered an ankle injury in last month’s 2-0 Scottish Cupwinagainst Stirling Albion and Hughes said: “He’ll need an operation.”