Motherwell boss Steven Hammell says a postponement of tomorrow’s Premiership clash against St Mirren was unavoidable, but admits frustration.
The Steelmen gaffer says safety has to come first, and extensive damage has been done to Fir Park stadium due to the recent freezing winter weather.
Pipes have been burst inside the concourse, and it has been deemed to be unsafe for supporters to attend.
The clash against Stephen Robinson’s side was to be Motherwell’s first since November 12, having entered a five-week mini break for the Qatar World Cup.
Hammell said: “We’re disappointed about it, to be honest. We’ve been preparing since the St Johnstone game many weeks back.
“We were really prepared for it, we were aware yesterday that this might be the issue.
“We were keen to do whatever we could, but I spoke to the staff here, the safety manager here, they showed me round the stadium, and unfortunately it’s outwith our control.
“Safety comes first.”
Hammell had his side prepared as best they could, with a visit to the FA’s St George’s Park training facility in Burton-Upon-Trent, and he wanted to get the game on.
Some players would still have been touch and go for tomorrow’s game, had it been played, but Hammell admits the time off gave their walking wounded time to heal.
He said: “The break was good, it was needed, and we got away for a few days down in England, with a small training camp down at St George’s with the players, just to get the group together and really focus on preparation.
“It was a chance for us to get a lot of detail in and prep work which we didn’t have in the last few games before the break.
“We’ve prepared as best we can, we were confident going into the game, we were really looking forward to being here, at home, in a game we wanted to do well in.
“But some things you can control, and that’s absolutely outwith my control.
“The weather hasn’t been ideal this week, we’ve been back this week and training indoors mostly – which I imagine a lot of teams have been – but we’ve put a lot of good work in this week.
“We’ll still put the work in and prepare as best we can for next week.
“There are still a few issues with certain players. There are still a couple we would be making late calls on, and other boys just general things.
“We’re not at full capacity, we haven’t been since I’ve been here anyway. It’s nothing new, but we were in a good position, we were feeling good about the work we had done, and looking forward to that game.”
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