Cowdenbeath’s league match against Championship leaders Hearts postponed on Saturday because of a frozen pitch has been re-scheduled for next Tuesday with a 7.45pm kick-off.
The new date for the game has delivered a double blow for the Fifers, who will now not be able to play two key players as their loan period will have elapsed.
Saturday would have been Scotland under-21 defender Marcus Fraser’s last game for Cowdenbeath at the end of his 93-day emergency loan and he has now returned to Celtic.
Another loan signing, St Mirren midfielder Declan Hughes, will see his spell at Central Park end this weekend, leaving Beath boss Jimmy Nicholl with two places to fill for next week’s rearranged clash.
Officials were hugely disappointed by the late postponement.
The game was called off at 11.30am despite careful work by the Central Park groundstaff.
The pitch was covered for three days prior to the game with frost forecast, which duly arrived in the early hours of the morning.
Cowden chief executive Alex Anderson said: “The pitch was covered to protect it from the frost, which was pretty severe in the early hours of Saturday, and when the sheets were taken off at around 10am the vast majority of it was in good condition.
“However, a closer look showed that the goalmouths were a bit hard in places and we called for an inspection and after a second look at 11.30am the game was postponed.”