Flood of fixtures for Buckie Thistle as manager Graeme Stewart explains Victoria Park pitch problems after Banks O' Dee match is postponed less than an hour before kick off
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Another week, another postponement for Buckie Thistle, who now face playing 20 Highland League matches in 11 weeks.
Jags manager Graeme Stewart revealed that the drainage problem which has led to six home fixtures being called off since the start of October extends beyond the club’s Victoria Park ground.
Buckie’s match against Banks O’ Dee looked set to go ahead on Saturday morning but by the afternoon it became unplayable, and was called off less than an hour before the scheduled 2pm kick-off.
Jags have now been forced to give up home advantage for Wednesday night’s Aberdeenshire Cup first round tie, also against Dee which has now been switched to Aberdeen.
“It’s just the same problem with the drainage,” Stewart explained. “I’d be lying if I said I know what’s going on but I don’t think it’s just our pitch, it’s to do with buildings around the area, so I’ve been told.
“It’s affecting drainage around this area of the town and not just Victoria Park’s drainage so the club is pulling in a few experts or people who understand that kind of thing. They will look at the pitch and the surrounding area and give us an answer to what needs to be done to get the pitch back up and running.”
Stewart knows until the problem is fixed, any wet weather will result in more postponements.
The last time Victoria Park was playable for a Jags game was on November 18 when they beat Wick 5-2. It’s the only match played there since September 30, and Buckie have managed to play just five of their 17 league home matches moving into February, meaning the pitch will come in for some punishment between now and the season conclusion in mid-April.
“We don’t mind playing Saturdays and Wednesdays and that will probably be every week now. But we are looking now at possibly three games a week.
“So we need to be careful, it’s not ideal but there isn’t much we can do. The groundsmen have been on the pitch for weeks and there’s nothing they can do. There’s no blame attached to them, it’s a drainage issue which might not even be the club’s fault. They are going to look into it and try to fix it.”
The Buckie boss said he had no complaints about Saturday’s late call-off. “I’ve got no issue with the game being off. We probably would have played it just to get a game played, and I was told in the morning that the game was on.
When I stood on it, the feeling then was that the game might be off and it was unplayable so there’s not much you can do.”
The decision to switch Wednesday’s match to Spain Park means it will almost certainly go ahead on the 4G surface in Aberdeen. But it will be a long haul for Jags’ Inverness-based contingent.
“We have given up home advantage and we will play on the astro turf which does give Banks O’ Dee more of an advantage then it would if we were playing at Victoria Park,” Stewart said.
“We need the game played because the following week is the next round (winners have been drawn away to Deveronvale, who can’t play midweek matches at their home ground due to floodlighting issues).
“We have a lot of boys from Inverness so it’s a long journey for them to Aberdeen and it’s not very fair on them having to get off work early to do a six-hour round trip on the Wednesday.
“At least it gives us a game and some minutes in the legs before Saturday (Nairn away). We want to win a trophy so to do that we have to go there and win, so it’s a huge game on Wednesday.”
Stewart is happy that his club is no longer in the spotlight following the media madness of their Scottish Cup clash at Celtic.
“The game is over so our focus has to be on the Highland League. I told them if they want more days like that, go out there and win the league and perhaps try and get promotion, then you go further in the cups.
“I think the boys are keen to have more days like that. To do that we need to be more successful by winning leagues and trophies, so the boys are totally focused.
“It has given us a thirst for more days like that. It always comes when you’ve got a good team and you’re in contention to win things.
“They know what the target is between now and the end of the season and that’s to go and try to win things.”
