Dunfermline have carried out repairs after an investigation into the postponement of last weekend’s clash with Airdrie.
But concerns remain over their frozen pitch ahead of the visit of Queen’s Park on Saturday.
The Fifers have been unable to switch on their undersoil heating ahead of the Championship meeting.
Now, the concern is whether the East End Park pitch will thaw out in time to host the clash that was unplayable on December 2 because of heavy snowfall.
The visit of Airdrie was called off on Saturday morning, less than five hours before kick-off, due to a waterlogged surface.
The Pars launched a probe into the issue after suspecting a ‘failure of the undersoil heating system’.
It has been discovered that one of the pipes under the East End Park pitch had burst and subsequently caused ‘significant flooding’ on the south stand touchline.
DAFC: ‘Issues resolved’
However, the Fifers are happy to have identified the source of Saturday’s issue and have patched up the problem pipe ahead of the Queen’s Park clash.
Question marks now hang over the wintry weather and whether temperatures will rise in time for Saturday afternoon.
A Dunfermline statement read: “Following last Saturday’s postponed match, the issues within the undersoil heating system have now been resolved, the excess water drained and pitch repaired.
“However, with the minus temperatures setting in early this week, we have been unable to test the undersoil heating system fully and, as a precaution, it has not been turned on ahead of Saturday’s match.
Pitch Update 18/01/2024
➡️ https://t.co/KIOjdHHNp7 pic.twitter.com/dPu16nIrQD
— Dunfermline Athletic (@officialdafc) January 18, 2024
“At present, the pitch is currently frozen. But, with temperatures due to rise tomorrow afternoon (Friday) and Saturday ahead of kick-off, we are hopeful the Queen’s Park match will go ahead.
“Any further updates will be communicated to supporters in due course.”
Dunfermline suffered a separate problem with their undersoil heating system last year when the January 2 encounter with Falkirk was postponed.
On that occasion, a boiler failure resulted in a frozen pitch and lost revenue from the rearranged New Year derby.
