'It's beyond belief': Glenrothes FC co-boss John Martin still pained by three-point deduction which could prove vital come end of season

Martin’s team’s young substitute, a striker, came on for the final 10 minutes of a 5-0 home Premier Division loss to Jeanfield Swifts on Tuesday, August 1, leading to a points deduction which dropped Glens into the relegation zone. With every point garnered being extremely precious in Glens’ top flight survival bid this season, Martin knows the verdict could come back to haunt the Warout Stadium outfit when the 2023-24 campaign wraps up in five months’ time.

"Being docked the three points still stings me to be honest,” Martin told the Glenrothes Gazette.

"I don’t want to dwell on it too much, but how you can get deducted points for trying to promote youth is just beyond belief.

"Not having those three points could make a big difference come the end of the season as well.

"It’s not just where we’re sitting in the league at the moment that matters. It’s small margins and it might come back to bite us.

"I think the law requiring East of Scotland Football League teams to play boys that are over the age of 16 should be abolished.

"Especially when other leagues in the pyramid system don’t follow that rule and they get away with it.

"But seemingly it’s a rule that the East of Scotland League stand by and we’ve got to follow it.

"But if it’s available it should be applied across the board.”

Glenrothes currently sit third bottom in the Premier Division with nine points from 14 matches after their scheduled league fixture at Dundonald Bluebell last Saturday was postponed due to a frozen pitch.

“I’m still optimistic we can get out of the relegation zone,” Martin said.

"There are still a lot of points to play for.

"I’m not majorly concerned with where we are in the league to be honest.

"In every game we’ll try and get as many points as we can.”

This Saturday, Glens have an away league game against Hill of Beath Hawthorn which kicks off at 2.30pm.