JIM JEFFERIES, the Dunfermline Athletic manager, insists that Ally McCoist has paid his side "the biggest compliment ever" by asking for their match against Rangers to be postponed.
McCoist appealed to the Scottish Professional Football League for a delay to their home tie with Jefferies' men, which was scheduled to be shown live on TV on Saturday week, because of international call-ups from the Ibrox side. Lee Wallace was named in Gordon Strachan's Scotland squad to face Croatia, Lewis Macleod was called up by the Scotland under-21s for the double-header with Slovakia and Georgia, and Arnold Peralta has been included in the Honduras pool for World Cup qualifiers against Costa Rica and Jamaica.
With Dean Shiels and Andy Little also on stand-by for Northern Ireland, the favourites for SPFL League 1 have won their appeal to have the fixture moved, with November 5 a possible suitable date.
"I spoke to Ally a couple of weeks ago because I knew it fell on an international weekend," Jefferies said. "Ally was expecting it to be five players that were called up, but I joked that it was because we had beaten Ayr United 5-1. I told him we were keen to go ahead as we want to keep playing and so does Ally, but it's their prerogative to appeal.
"Even with the size of their squad, they feel they need their international players for the game. I told our players Ally had given them the biggest compliment ever."
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