Raith Rovers vs Dunfermline in the Scottish Championship has been abandoned after only 15 minutes due to a power fault inside Starks Park.

Both the Penman or McDermid stands were without power after the match kicked off and the referee was forced to speak with the stadium safety officer.

After consultation with the Police Scotland match commander the decision was taken to postpone the Championship clash.

A Raith Rovers statement read: "Due to the ongoing power issue the police scotland match commander has taken the decision to abandon the match. We will update as soon as we can. We appreciate your understanding in this difficult situation."

Raith director Bill Clark issued an apology on what he described as an ‘embarrassment’ for the club.

Describing the events, Clark said: “The first problem we had was with the floodlights, as everybody saw, but we managed to fix that. 

“We also, however, have got a problem with the wifi system, and that controls our electronic ticketing, so we had hundreds of fans outside queuing. 

“They were very angry, obviously, as they should be. 

“So we couldn't let anybody through the gates on the advice of police. 

“The other problem that we've got is that we can't get the concourse lights on in the two main stands, so there's a health and safety issue. 

“As the night wears on, you can't have hundreds and hundreds of fans going out in darkness. So it really was a health and safety issue at the end of the day. I don't know if they consulted with the match commander - I assume there was some kind of communication - but it was was the referee who eventually decided to abandon the match

“It's a massive disappointment. Huge apologies to everyone here - the supporters, all the people watching on TV and everyone else who assembled here for what should have been a cracking match. 

"It's embarrassing for the club, but until we get to the bottom of it, and find out exactly what went wrong, I can't give any further explanation. "We'll have to get electronics experts to have a look at the whole thing again. 

“It's so unfortunate because this is the first night we've used these floodlights. It cost around £180,000 to install. It is the most modern system - it's the same system as Manchester United have.”

The lack of power in both stands behind the goals, which housed around 4,000 fans, was the main concern, although Clark also revealed that around 500 angry home fans had been left locked out of Stark’s Park due to a WIFI issue that affected the electronic ticketing system.

There were ominous scenes just ten minutes before the scheduled 7.45pm kick off, which was being screened live on the BBC, after the newly installed £180,000 floodlights failed in a power cut that affected the entire stadium.

The floodlights did come back on and the game started around seven minutes later than planned.

However, a steward then informed fourth official Lloyd Wilson of the ongoing power issues in the stands 11 minutes into the match and after referee Gavin Duncan spoke to both managers, the official was left with no option but to call off the match with the game goal-less.

Asked if he feared sanctions from the SPFL, Clark added: “I suspect there might be repercussions for the club, but until we get to the bottom of what is actually the problem, I really don't know whether there will be repercussions or not, or it will just simply be that it will be replayed at a later date. That's about all I can tell you."

Pars manager Peter Grant, whose side were looking to bounce back from last Friday’s 5-0 Premier Sports Cup loss to Rangers, commented: “I can only remember one other occasion like this, many years ago in Celtic-Aberdeen game when the fog came in. 

“Big Brian Irvine smashed my knee and I ended up out for four or five months, but about five minutes after I went off, the game was called off.

“That was only about 15 minutes in and this was even less, so it brought back bad memories, that’s for sure.

“We’re disappointed for everyone, it was a fantastic night for football, a brilliant atmosphere, our fans behind the goal were right up for it and as a team we’d started pretty well, but then it was over.”

Raith manager John McGlynn said: “It’s a bit of a nightmare, it’s hopeless.

“The players weren’t happy and we can only apologise, it was something that was unforeseen.”