Lights go out on extra training

Dundee United manager Peter Houston saw the increased training workload for his players count for nothing after their match atMotherwell fell victim to a power cut.

Houston had cancelled the players’ day off after their 4-0 defeat by Inverness the previous weekend andsensed theywereabout to make amends for their poor showing.

But a power failure in the Motherwell area 10 minutes before kick-off led to the home club being forced to call off the game for safety reasons.

The United players applauded the away support after warming up in vain before trudging off after being forced to wait at least another two weeks before they can end a four-game SPL run without a goal.

Houstonwasquick toabsolve Motherwell of any blame for the postponement but could not hide his frustration.

“It’s very disappointing,”

“I sensed within the players that they were really keen”

he said. “It was one of those things, during the course of the last six days when they have been in doing double training sessions after the horrendous performance last week, that you just sensed the players were together and you think you were going to get a good performance.

“That’s not to say we would have got a good performance but I sensed within the players that they were really keen to get the game going ahead and it just adds to the frustration that we have to wait another fortnight.”

Motherwell were also looking to bounce back from defeats against Rangers and Celtic.

Manager Stuart McCall said: “It’s a clean sheet, we have not had one of them for a while. There is nothing we can do about it.

“We were ready for a game and it makes it worse that we have to wait two weeks now.”

Electricity was restored after an hour but Motherwell had initially been told it would be 6pm before supplies returned and they called the game off as areas inside the stadium and fan exit routes were unlit.