Hopes still high that East Fife will return to action

Hopes that the Fifers could return to training this week, ahead of making a full return to competitive play in early March, were dashed by an announcement from the SFA which stated no return date could yet be committed to.

With a follow up announcement not now expected until the beginning of next month, and allowing time for players to prepare, any resumption of the calendar will not happen until mid-March at the earliest.

It’s not the news anyone was hoping for, but Bayview boss Young believes the season is by no means a lost cause.

He said: “I’m certainly a wee bit more confident that we can start training at the start of March with games in the middle of the month.

"I’m hopeful that can work and we can get the Scottish Cup up and running as well.

"A lot of teams will be going for the cup because there’s a lot of money there for clubs which I don’t think they’d get just now if it finished.

"I’m not sure how that would work.

"The way that it’s looking, whether they made the season 27 or 18 games, the players would be wanting that.

"I know there’s still talk going on in the background and hopefully something can come of that because we, as a club, and the other teams in the league, are trying to put things in place to go forward.”

The state of limbo means that East Fife’s players, and others across the lower divisions, remain out of action with no firm date to work towards.

Young concedes this makes things difficult for his side as they continue to train at home.

"The boys are doing their own wee bits but, mentally, it’s tough,” he said.

"You can’t even go with your pals for a game of five-a-side just to kick a ball about.

"It’s frustrating and a just a sign of the times.”

The SFA announcement, which arrived in the early part of last week, said the date of the next scheduled update, March 1, should “not be seen as a proposed restart date” but it should help provide some clarity to affected clubs to aid their planning over the short term.

East Fife have played just nine games of the scheduled 27 so far this season.