A massive effort is under way by Forfar Athletic to get Station Park ready for the visit of Hibs in the Scottish Cup.
Logistical brain-teasers thrown up by one of the nation’s biggest clubs descending on a town of around 16,000 people haven’t been helped by the recent cold snap.
Sub-zero temperatures and a large amount of snow meant training had to be cancelled on Tuesday and triggered a lot of extra work for long-serving groundsman Martin Gray.
Since then, temperatures have failed to rise, but the necessary preparation work is taking place to ensure a crowd of 4,000-plus, including more than 1,000 Loons, can safely enjoy Saturday’s fourth-round tie.
“The weather has caused a huge problem,” Forfar chairman Scott Murdie told Courier Sport.
“There was no training on Tuesday night. Martin put salt on the pitch on Monday or Tuesday and then we got the dump of snow on Tuesday afternoon.
“He’s been clearing it since about 6 o’clock on Thursday morning with the plough and the brush and making headway.
“After we have the snow shifted, if we get the salt onto the terracing then I think that will be the crucial bit – and making sure there is no snow lying about for them to start snowball fights!
“That’s one of the things the match commander said we had to watch for.
“We’ll clear any of the bits we need to clear and make sure everything is the best it can be.”
Hibs visit ‘huge’ for Forfar
Thursday afternoon was spent clearing piles of snow created by the tireless work of the groundsman.
All the while, talks have been held with local businesses so that the police, Hibs and their bus-loads of supporters have somewhere to park.
Catering companies are preparing extra pies and bridies to feed them all – in what will be the biggest match at Station Park since Rangers visited in the 2012/13 season during their journey back through the leagues.
Ironically, Rangers were drawn away to Forfar in the Scottish Cup that year too.
Since then, Dundee United have visited, as have Hibs, but both came during the truncated 2020/21 season when Covid locked out fans or severely reduced their numbers.
Murdie, who took over from Ross Graham as chairman in 2020, around a month before the last meeting between the sides, said the match will be massive for Forfar.
“We’re sitting at about the 4,000 tickets mark in total at the moment, that’s huge for us.,” he said.
“When we spoke to Hibs on Monday, they were sitting at about 2,800 – so they hope to hit their allocated 3,1000.
“It will do the town a lot of good. A few of the pubs have booked in a couple of bus loads.
“The pie shops are making extra pies and bridies to feed them en-route up to Station Park.
“It makes a huge difference to us, to get to this stage in the cup makes the difference between a good season and a not so good one.
“We have been unfortunate in the league so far, things just haven’t been going our way. It’s good to still be in the cup and give the guys something different to concentrate on.”
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