Hibs boss Nick Montgomery reacts to Ross County postponement
Waterlogged pitch in Dingwall leads to wasted journey to Highlands for Hibs squad
Hibs manager Nick Montgomery was disappointed with the postponement at Ross County. (Photo by Ewan Bootman / SNS Group)
Hibs[1] manager Nick Montgomery expressed disappointment over the postponement of the cinch Premiership match at Ross County[2] on Saturday despite admitting his players “should be fresh” for the Edinburgh[3] derby. A 10am pitch inspection was called at the Global Energy Stadium following heavy rain in the Highlands overnight with more bad weather forecast throughout the day and an announcement was made 30 minutes later that a decision had been made to call the match off due to a waterlogged surface. It meant a wasted journey and overnight stay for the Hibs squad, who were in already in Dingwall having travelled up the previous night, while the club were expecting to take a travelling support of approximately 1,000 fans, with many having already started their journey north.
Hibs now have a free weekend ahead of Wednesday night’s eagerly anticipated capital clash with Hearts at Easter Road, but Montgomery insisted he would have preferred to play the match. “We go back now and train tomorrow, adapt the session a little bit,” the Hibs boss told the Edinburgh Evening News. “But the boys are really disappointed because they were ready for the game. Playing the game today on a heavy pitch, you never know what the outcome would have been. So yeah, we should be fresh (for the derby).
But the boys want to play games, they wanted to get it done today. We do have a small squad, still have quite a thin squad. So we prepare as well as we can.
“We had our breakfast this morning and knew the rain had been pretty heavy through the night. Then we got a notification that the referee was going to go and inspect the pitch at ten o’clock. To be honest, it already sounded like there was a bit of water in one of the goal mouths, which was an issue.
Around nine thirty, we heard about the pitch inspection. Obviously it’s disappointing because you do the preparation, the travel and the overnight stay. But that’s out of our control.
As much as we’re disappointed about it, these things happen.”