PERTHSHIRE JUNIOR FOOTBALL – PA TUESDAY JANUARY 11

Jan 11 2011 Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

PERTHSHIRE JUNIOR FOOTBALL – PA TUESDAY JANUARY 11

AS was forecast Saturday’s domestic fixtures were all cancelled as the pitches remained unplayable.

There were high hopes that the two third round Scottish Cup ties, which were away from home, would be played.

Bankfoot were due to travel north to Keith to take on Islavale while Blairgowrie were going in the opposite direction to Ayrshire to do battle with Kilbirnie Ladeside.

Reports from those venues on Thursday was that the pitches were playable and if there was no change in the weather the games were in no danger and that certainly caused a surge of optimism in both the Bankies and Blair camps.

The weather however didn’t play ball as a country wide severe frost on Thursday night and Friday had its affect on both the Simpson Park and Valefield Park pitches, inspections were called for and both were declared unplayable and the ties were off, that certainly wasn’t the news that the Bankies and Blair wanted to hear.

That was blow number one for the Bankies, another was to follow on Saturday. Manager Ian Duff in his wisdom had booked the astro pitch at McDiarmid Park for Saturday and had arranged to play Kelty Hearts in a friendly if their Scottish tie was called off.

This was good forward thinking by the Bankies boss but unfortunately this too backfired as there was a heavy fall of snow and that put paid to the game going ahead, causing a double whammy of disappointment for the Bankies who finally had to settle for a training session at the Rodney Lodge Gym.

Blairgowrie boss Ross Graham had also done a bit of forward planning should their tie be called off which of course it was.

Ross had booked indoor facilities at Blairgowrie and he held a full scale training session.

It was however another very disappointing day as with those Scottish Cup ties being called off it was a further Saturday which was completely bereft of fixtures.

Jeanfield Swifts were also victims of the McDiarmid Park astro pitch becoming snowbound as they had arranged to play Tayport but of course it to had to be called off.

The Swifts players didn’t get the day off as manager Scott Brown managed to get a slot at Dundee's Soccer World facility where he held a full training session.

The Swifts boss will have his squad back training at the McDiarmid Park astro pitch tomorrow night all going well.

Kinnoull also had their plans disrupted. They held a training session at Bell’s on Sunday night.

The outlook for this coming Saturday is looking none too bright at the present time and if the weather doesn’t change its tune quite quickly the same problems could arise as far as the fixtures are concerned.

It’s the same card as last week plus of course the Scottish ties.