"It's a perfect storm" for Elgin City Football Club as Storm Isha rips up floodlight pylon, causes road closure and poses threat to Borough Briggs midweek SPFL fixtures
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Elgin City's Borough Briggs home has been damaged by the effects of Storm Isha.
Gusts of more than 60 miles per hour on Sunday night uprooted a floodlighting pylon next to the main stand at the club's stadium.
Moray Council will close Borough Briggs Road for a three hour period on Friday while the damaged pylon is removed from the ground.
City endured an 'annus horribilis' in 2023 after a series of setbacks on and off the pitch, and had been hoping the new year would bring a transformation in their fortunes.
But while new manager Allan Hale has been improving the team's results, the stadium problems have created a new concern for home matches played at Borough Briggs.
City's home match against Dumbarton on Saturday is likely to kick off early at 2pm with the floodlights out of use.
Next Tuesday's fixture is also at Borough Briggs against Clyde, and chairwoman Isla Benzie said a solution for midweek matches has yet to be found.
"It’s a perfect storm - it never rains but it pours," she said.
"The floodlight has been secured and we’ve got cranes coming in on Friday that will have to remove it. It had been assessed by an engineer and it’s being taken out.
"Saturday, hopefully should be OK, we are in talks with Dumbarton at the moment to try and bring the kick off forward.
"It may affect Tuesday night’s game against Clyde and we are still looking at options to see if there’s something temporary we can bring in or explore all options that are available.
"Obviously we don’t want to be delaying any more games if we can help it."
If temporary lighting couldn't be set up at Borough Briggs, the club might have to play midweek fixtures at an alternative venue.
"It’s not something that we have looked at yet," Benzie said. "We will see what updates we receive today and see what the league says about it."
She said it was noticed by a club volunteer on Monday morning that the floodlight situated behind the home dugout had been uprooted.
"There won’t be any safety concerns for Saturday because it will be removed on Friday. But the lighting concern will need to be addressed.
"We will need to move on that pretty quickly."
