Fir Park: No solution yet

We know that arrangements are in place to have Gretna playing at Almondvale while our pitch is repaired but what of our next home fixtures?

We have a fixed date with Hibs at Fir Park on March 29 and a further two games need to be arranged against Rangers and Celtic before the split. The odds must be on an extension beyond the April 5 schedule for the top and bottom sides to separate.

SPL secretary, Ian Blair, was interviewed on the BBC on Monday evening and said that he had a couple of conversations with Stewart Robertson during the day. The indication is that Motherwell are still assessing the situation but the most recent report is that Fir Park is expected to be in playable condition over the next two or three weeks.

As far as a temporary relocation is concerned Blair stated that a move to Airdrie would be "doubtful in the extreme" given that their ground is not SPL compliant (it has no undersoil heating).

However, what is most infuriating is that things have gone wrong when we are, for once, in contention to do something. Where was the chronic pitch problem when we were terrible last year? Fans would have been delighted for an excuse not to watch what Maurice Malpas was serving up on a weekly basis!

Instead it is this year, when we are facing a vital run of matches against United and Hibs, that we are disrupted. There is no doubt we are being badly affected, as against Hibs we simply didn't look sharp - there wasn't much between the teams and our lack of rhythm cost us dearly. It seems very optimistic to expect anything will change at Tannadice on Saturday as another ten day gap won't have done us any favours. It is clearly no one's fault but our own but it is unbelievably frustrating that when third place was there for the taking we may have been denied by non-footballing reasons.