The adverse weather conditions have caused havoc up and down the country this week – with some football teams making alternative arrangements for training.
Dunfermline Athletic have been using the indoor facilities at the Oriam in Edinburgh this week with the usual facilities at Rosyth and Petrivie out of action.
Raith Rovers have been using the Michael Wood Centre in Glenrothes, also indoors, unable to use Stark’s Park in the sub-zero temperatures this week.
“We’re fortunate to have trained every day,” said Rovers manager Ian Murray, ahead of the home match in the Scottish Championship versus Arbroath.
“That’s been really positive. We’ve had to go indoors, but that’s fine.
“We can’t grumble too much, it’s not been a normal week but we trained and that’s the main thing.”
Frozen pitch
“It’s a good facility, actually,” added Raith forward Lewis Vaughan, who reached another milestone last week when he netted his first goal since his return.
“We’ve been meeting [at Stark’s Park] in the morning and travelling up and training there.
“Our pitch was frozen at the start of the week, so hopefully it sorts itself out for the weekend.”
With temperatures rising slightly on Friday, there has been no indication that Saturday’s match is in jeopardy.
There were similar noises coming out of the KDM Group East End Park.
Pars assistant manager Dave Mackay is confident their match will go ahead after Saturday’s opponents Airdrie hosted a bounce match versus Rovers.
That game was abandoned at half-time but this weekend’s match is, at the time of writing, expected to go ahead.
‘Lucky enough’
“I’m sure just about every club is affected by it,” said Mackay.
“But we’ve been lucky enough, [chief scout] Gary Montignani managed to get the Oriam booked for us for this week which has been a great help.
“If you don’t get one of the indoor facilities, which are hard to get when the weather is like this because everybody’s desperate for them, then you’re struggling.
“You just taper your training session towards the size of the [pitch].
“Obviously we can’t do the 11v11 stuff on it due to the size, but we’re managing to get a touch of the ball and getting a good session out of it.”
Mackay, who hopes to have Lewis McCann available for selection, added that he expects the match versus Airdrie to be played.
“I don’t expect there to be any problems.
“I think the temperature is to rise slightly over Friday and Saturday anyway.
“We’re training and preparing as if the game is going to go ahead and we expect it to do so.”
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