Scottish Premiership: Livingston v Dundee United - Fox frustrated by call-off
- Published
Referee Matthew MacDermid called off the game after a second inspection
"Frustrated" Dundee United head coach Liam Fox wants answers after his side's match at Livingston was called off after a second pitch inspection less than two hours before kick-off.
Referee Matthew MacDermid deemed the pitch unplayable because of a frozen goalmouth just after 18:00 GMT.
That came three hours after another official had given the surface the all clear for the Scottish Premiership tie.
"We'll be looking for some clarity about the process," said Fox.
"You can see the pitch is far from playable. We've come down the road, our supporters have left their houses and potentially work early so it's not great.
"Earlier on, we were not convinced the pitch was going to be playable. When I got here at three o'clock the temperature was only going to go one way. It has cost our club a fair bit of money."
It is the second time the fixture has been called off at short notice, having initially been cancelled on 17 December due to a frozen pitch.
In a later statement, United said they had been in "constant dialogue" with Livingston and the SPFL since around midday and that "the decision to state that the game would go ahead now looks erroneous".
"There has now been an unnecessary expense to both the club and our supporters on two occasions in attempting to have this fixture played," they added.
"We will contact the SPFL to seek clarification on the procedures currently in place and whether plans to improve these are being reviewed in order to prevent such instances from re-occurring."
Livingston won the teams' first meeting this season at Tannadice in August, but United won in the Scottish League Cup at Tony Macaroni Arena.