SNOW JOKE

Coaches, players and fans now fear no games will be played until 2011 as this Saturday is expected to come too soon for the weather to have improved enough, leaving only one weekend before the festive break.

Cumbernauld United boss John Queen said: "We managed to train on Saturday at the Tryst sports centre and after that we went down to the park for some food, just to keep the players together.

"But Cumbernauld Village, it's like a different world. It's really bad, it was a bit of an eye opener. Looking at it, the games could be off for a long time.

"It must be about three feet deep in some places, it certainly can't be far off it."

Kilsyth Rangers assistant manager Danny Smith was frustrated his side's Scottish Junior Cup third round tie with Darvel was again called off.

He said: "The situation now is, if it's not on again this Saturday, we've only got the following weekend then it's Christmas and New Year so there isn't a lot of time left to get the game out the way.

"I think we would be looking to get the Scottish Cup game over and done with and then back to league games again but, the only consolation is that everyone is affected by it.

"When you get on a wee run where you're getting the results, you want the games to just keep coming but unfortunately the weather can't be helped."

John Queen thinks the timing of this impromptu winter shutdown could be positive for his team.

He continued: "I think it could work out well for us because we've got the two guys on the left, Kenny Jarvis and James Brown, who are both really important to the team, and they've been carrying different knocks for a few weeks now.

"If they can have a chance to recover a bit and get back to fitness before we start playing again then it'll be good for the whole team.

"When the weather is like this you can only do so much. I wouldn't ask anyone to come out when the snow's really bad and risk their neck driving in it."

Danny Smith added: "Unfortunately the amount of snow on the ground means we are struggling to get anywhere to train. We are going to try and get the boys in on Thursday to do something, even if we can go out and do a road run or something just to keep everyone ticking over.

Unless you have access to an indoor facility, it's fairly difficult to keep everything as normal but we'll do what we can."

Cumbernauld United's trip to Saracen Park for their league tie with Ashfield has been re-scheduled for Saturday.

Kilsyth Rangers' Emirates Scottish Junior Cup tie with Darvel Juniors has also been re-scheduled for Saturday.