Motherwell face £40,000 bill after second blackout at Fir Dark

Sports Writer

Sunday 7 October 2012

MOTHERWELL were facing a loss of up to £40,000 last night after a power outage in North Lanarkshire caused the abandonment of their SPL match with Dundee United.

Fed-up fans at power cut-hit Fir ParkPhotograph: PA

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By Stewart Fisher

A failure to the general grid which originated outside the stadium, and also affected Wishaw General Hospital, cut the supply to Fir Park at around 2.50pm and, although the club's emergency generator kicked in correctly, the club took the decision to abandon the match on safety grounds shortly before 3.15pm.

It was the second time an SPL match at this ground has had to be abandoned within 10 months, with a meeting with Hibs abandoned at half-time in December 2011 due to a floodlight fire. The disappointment felt around the club yesterday probably wasn't helped by the fact ScottishPower managed to restore supply to every affected premises within an hour of the original outage, approximately two hours earlier than they had originally thought was possible. SPL match delegate Willie McDougall, who officiated at the Euro 2012 match between France and Ukraine which was played after an hour-long delay due to a thunderstorm, said Motherwell's conduct had been exemplary. "The right decision was made on safety grounds," he said. "Fans will say, 'It's daylight, why can we not play?' but when you've a crowd and there's a responsibility for safety, that's the name of the game."Leeann Dempster, the Motherwell chief executive, said she really didn't have a decision to make. She said: "Just before the match kicked off the lights flickered and there was a puff of smoke as our emergency generator kicked in, which is what's supposed to happen. "Our on-site electrician went straight to the main power source and could tell right away there was no power coming into the grid, meaning it was an external problem. "ScottishPower told us there was a major power outage in north Lanarkshire and that at the earliest they could get us some power back by 6pm. At that stage it became a fairly easy decision. You can't run a full football match if you have no power in the toilets, and the hospitality areas, so we took five minutes to get match-abandoned tickets ready so the supporters had proof of entry so they can come back or get a refund."The call-off was both good and bad news for Dundee United. It prolonged for another fortnight Peter Houston's side's five-game winless run, in which they have scored one goal, but meant the United manager goes off with Scotland minus the morale-boosting win he was looking for. His players had been subjected to six straight days of gruelling training in an attempt to atone for their 4-0 loss at Inverness. "I sensed the players were very keen to get the game going today and it just adds to our frustrations that we have to wait another fortnight," he said. "It is very disappointing. But first and foremost there is nobody to blame here, certainly not Motherwell. There is nothing both clubs could do about it." His opposite number, Stuart McCall, made light of the situation, no pun intended. "It's not Motherwell's fault, we have paid the meter," he said. "We've got to take the positives, it's a clean sheet and we have not had one of them for a while." Match-abandoned tickets issued afterwards can either be refunded or else will be valid for the match when it is finally replayed. No date has been set. "We want to get it in before Gary Mackay-Steven is fit again," joked McCall. "But don't tell Peter that."

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Motherwell face £40,000 bill after second blackout at Fir Dark

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