PAT FENLON'S first match in charge of Hibernian was abandoned at half-time last night after an electrical fire in one of Fir Park's floodlights.

The incident, which was attended by the fire brigade, brought back memories of the Bradford fire for Stuart McCall, the Motherwell manager, who was a player on the day Valley Parade's main stand went up in flames. Fifty-six people died in the 1985 disaster and, for a time, McCall feared his father, Andy, was among them. Although the fire at Fir Park was minor and no lives were at risk, the circumstances still unsettled McCall.

Police officers monitoring CCTV camera footage spotted smoke coming from a floodlight next to the south stand and called out the fire service.

A problem with electrical wiring was identified as the cause and although the fire, which caused the floodlight to fail, was quickly brought under control, the decision was taken to call off the game and offer all the fans in the crowd of more than 6700 complimentary tickets for the rearranged fixture.

"Listen, safety has to come first," McCall said. "Having been involved in the Bradford fire, I know that better than anyone.

"When they started talking about wires burning and stands burning down, I knew there was only one decision to take.

"It's a nightmare for everyone who'd come to see the game, but it was the right thing to do. We had to call it off because when they started going into depth about what could happen all those images from all those years ago came flooding back. Because of health and safety, it was the right thing to do."

McCall also revealed a Motherwell supporter had to be resuscitated in a separate incident two minutes into the first half.

Later on, fire engines could be seen arriving at the south stand, which is behind one of the Fir Park goals, and the emergency message was broadcast to police and stewards over the PA system three times. Immediately after the half-time whistle blew, it was understood the fire had been brought under control and the match would continue.

However, an announcement was then made that the interval was being extended, and finally the game was officially abandoned. "Initially, it was clear there had been an electrical fire," said Chief Inspector Brian Connell, the match commander.

"They managed to isolate it, but I could not be given the assurance that there might not be a further fire. I was not given the assurance that it would be safe, so I had to abandon the match."

Although frustrated with the outcome, particularly with his side having impressed during the opening half and deservedly taken the lead through Garry O'Connor's strike in the 16th minute, Fenlon accepted that there was no option but to call the game off. He was, though, happy with the performance of his team.

"There's not a lot we can do about it," Fenlon said. " Billy [Brown, his assistant] had said to me during the game that some fire engines had come in, but I was too engrossed. I've had floodlight failure, but never anything like that. I don't think I've been involved in a game that got cancelled."

Fenlon led his players and staff out to thanks the Hibs fans for turning out in numbers. The Friday night football experiment had been a success, in terms of attendance, drawing 2000 more fans than the average for fixtures against non-Old Firm teams, including a sizeable away support.

Yet the opening 45 minutes had been a disappointment for Motherwell. McCall had berated his players during the interval and sent them back out early before being told that the game was under threat and they had to return to the dressing room and wait for a decision to be made by the emergency services.

"I had given my players such a rollocking at half-time that they were heading back out after about two minutes," he said. "But we were told to hang back.

"I was in with Pat and we were told the firemen were going to switch something off and we'd be okay to go within 10 minutes. It wasn't the way we wanted things to pan out on a Friday night."

match abandoned at half time