Thornton Hibs manager Craig Gilbert urges East of Scotland League for help in getting this weekend's game against Ormiston Primrose played

With Primrose having not played a home league game at their New Recreation Park ground since September 30 due to flooding issues, veteran Hibs gaffer Gilbert is understandably pessimistic about the prospects of this weekend’s tie going ahead at the ground.

He told the Fife Free Press: “Ormiston have had nine postponements this season already so I’ve spoken to the league about this issue.

"I remember when we were junior, all those years ago, we levelled the park but the guy that did the drainage wasn’t the best and he took too much soil away so our park kind of flooded fairly easily as the water wasn’t getting away.

"So we ended up playing one home game and the league decided we had to stop getting games called off all the time, so we had to play every game away from home.

"That’s what we did for a season.

"Something similar has to happen to Ormiston if their games keep getting called off.

“But we are not allowed to play this game on an astroturf instead. We have already asked the league that question. We could maybe play on astroturf if it was a cup tie, a one off game.

"Ormiston have a serious problem, so they either have to play at somebody else’s park or they have to play at an astro. It’s just common sense, it’s logical.

"But the league don’t want this which I found astounding because they are not letting games get played.

"It’s not an unfair advantage as Bo’ness Athletic play on an astro, as do Stirling and Armadale.

"We will soon be into February and if the game is called off on Saturday, we’ll still have 17 league games to play between then and May.

"We have been left high and dry.”

Earlier this season, the Ormiston Primrose v Thornton Hibs league game originally scheduled for Saturday, October 28 was postponed due to an unplayable park and rearranged for Thornton’s ground on Saturday, November 25, a fixture which Gilbert’s men won 6-2.

Ironically, Ormiston’s much-maligned playing surface passed a morning pitch inspection ahead of their home King Cup second round match against Vale of Leithen last Saturday, but the game was subsequently postponed just half an hour before kick-off due to a subsequent deterioration.

Orimiston secretary John Greenhorn, who is also East of Scotland League president, has been in dialogue with Gilbert this week.

Greenhorn said: “It is highly unikely we will move the Thornton game to a neutral stadium just to get it played. Why would we?

"First of all, if you’re switching the game to an astroturf, it has to be to a recognised East of Scotland League ground and they’re used already.

"Take somewhere like Heriot-Watt where they’ve got astroturf. They play there themselves and if they’re not there somebody else is there, because the whole point of astroturf pitches is that they get used all the time.

"And there’s none anywhere near Ormiston which is an East of Scotland League astroturf pitch.

"We have one drainage problem and we are trying to do a temporary fix to that one corner. We can’t do a complete fix during the season because that would put the pitch out altogether.

"It’s hard to tell if the Thornton Hibs game will go ahead at our ground this Saturday. It depends on the weather for the rest of the week.

"If we can get the pitch cleared we’ll get the game played because we’re more desperate than anyone else to get playing.

"The bottom line is there’s still plenty of time between now and the end of the season to get all the games played.

"In the past we have played for a season-and-a-half at the Hibs training ground. But that was in a different situation because the pitch was being built then, the pavilion was being built.

"And the hierarchy at Hibs has all changed now. They’ve not got the same contacts that Hibs had before.

"Although it’s an astroturf pitch, it doesn’t really comply with East of Scotland standards as far as the changing rooms and the distance to the pitch etcetera, are concerned.

"We might get temporary permission to play there – from the league and Hibs as well – but that’s pie in the sky at the moment because there’s nothing being done about that.