St Johnstone’s rearranged Scottish Cup fifth round clash with Partick Thistle only has a slim chance of going ahead tonight, after the sodden McDiarmid Park playing surface was covered by four inches of snow on Monday.
If there is a second call-off, tomorrow night has been pencilled in as the next possible date for the tie. Off the pitch, defender Michael Duberry has been the worst affected of the Saints squad by the piling up of a fixture backlog.
His family life back in London has suffered in a way he did not anticipate when he agreed to stay a further year with the Perth club in the summer. The former Chelsea defender said, “This is the worst weather I’ve experienced in all my time in football.
“As a footballer I can cope with the snow and the rain. I just get my gloves and hat on for training. But it is tough when you have a family in London. It has been very frustrating having so many games called-off.”
The biggest sacrifice will be not being at home for his son Koby’s third birthday. He said, “Missing my little boy’s birthday is going to be really hard. I had been hoping to make up for being away so much.
“I have been trying to balance the football with the family but because of the weekend and midweek games I’m not getting back to London to see them. I love my football. That’s my thing. But it really is tough not being home for them on days like that.
“The weather has disrupted all our plans. There’s not much point in getting angry about it because there’s nothing you can do about it. But it is just so frustrating.
“It was a shock hearing that Saturday’s game was off and then we heard there was snow in Perth on Monday morning. We don’t really want any more games piling up so hopefully the cup tie will get played.”
Duberry (35), who has been one of the SPL’s top defenders this season, let alone Saints’, also fears the extra midweek fixtures will take a toll on his body. He said, “I’m fit enough and I’m handling it but the body takes longer to recover from games than it did when I was 21. There is no real recovery time with games coming thick and fast.”SpeculationWith Roberto di Matteo being sacked by West Brom on Sunday, Saints boss Derek McInnes has again found himself listed among the favourites for a top post in England. The Perth players are well versed on how to deal with the speculation after the Burnley manager saga.
Duberry said, “We’ve been here before with other clubs being linked with the boss. All the lads now have their words prepared for when we are asked about him. We now expect him to be in the frame when jobs come up in England. But there’s no way it is distracting us from preparing for matches.
“The only thing we have to cope with is the weather. But the manager is making sure we are well prepared and totally focused for the Partick cup tie.”
The quarter-final draw has given the winners out of Saints and Partick a trip to face second division Brechin City, but McInnes has refused to even talk about the last eight. He said, “That is totally irrelevant and won’t be a distraction.
“It would be utter folly to look beyond the Partick tie. That is where all our focus has to be. Nothing has changed because of the cup draw.” McInnes went on, “We have to beat a Thistle team which will be coming to Perth determined to do well against an SPL side.”
The one positive from Saturday’s postponement was that it has bought time for injury doubt Liam Craig. McInnes said, “It was disappointing for everyone to miss out on a game on Saturday. But we have been here before and just have to cope with it. It won’t be allowed to affect the way we prepare for the cup game.
“The players were in on Sunday for a session and our approach will be right. Liam will benefit from the extra couple of days. He would not have made Saturday’s game with the calf strain but we will see how he progresses.”
Tuesday’s pitch inspection takes place at 12.45pm. If the game goes ahead, season tickets are not valid but prices have been reduced.