DUNDEE players TRAINED on the Dens Park pitch after their home game against Aberdeen was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.
The pitch was deemed unplayable by the match referee David Munro just an HOUR before Tony Docherty’s side hosted Barry Robson’s Dons.
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The fixture was the second victim to poor weather over the weekend as Ross County’s match with Hibs was also called off earlier.
And Dundee club chief Greg Fenton insists the ref was WRONG to cancel the match.
He said: “We arrived this morning as normal for the game and there was light rain, but no issues with the pitch at that time. There were no concerns.
“The referee arrived at 1.40 for the game, he did his pitch inspection and had concerns with the away end goalmouth.
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“At that point, with no consultation with the managers or the police, he made his decision to call it off.
“He made his decision then told the managers and police.
“Would I have expected him to speak to the managers first? All of us, the managers, police, safety team and all together make a decision.
“He said he had concerns with the water in the goalmouth and player safety.
“Obviously we’re not happy with that and we’ll be taking it up with the league and the SFA.
“We will deal with it internally but we will be taking it up with them.
“Do we believe the pitch is playable? Absolutely.
“We have had it a lot worse here, against Motherwell at the start of the season, the Rangers game on the first of November.
“Those were a lot worse than what this is, in my opinion.
“You can see from the players training on it.”
Dons chief executive Alan Burrows has also hit out at the late call.
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, he wrote: “Desperately sorry for every Dons fan (we had sold out the Bob Shankley Stand with over 3,000 due to be there) who made the trip to Dundee, only for the game to be called off just before 2pm.
“We checked with our opponents earlier in the morning and were assured the pitch was fine. It was therefore a surprise and bitter disappointment that we’ve ultimately not got a game to play.
“Games going off at this time of year isn’t the biggest issue (albeit with the calendar so congested, it’s not helpful in the slightest).
“Giving supporters as much notice, even as a precaution, as possible should be absolutely paramount.
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“Collectively, we’ve got to be much, much better.
“Sorry once again to all those who have bought tickets and made the journey.”
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