What a farce!

GAFFER Peter Murphy insists Queen of the South’s Challenge Cup tie against Dunfermline should’ve been called off hours before it eventually was.

And Murphy didn’t hold back calling the whole situation – putting his players’ and supporters’ safety at risk – a “farce”.

Weather warnings had been in place across the country ahead of Tuesday night’s match.

The M74 was closed for hours after numerous lorries had overturned.

Five of Murphy’s troops – Kai Kennedy, Reece Lyon, Ross Stewart, Zander Mackenzie and Kurtis Guthrie – were caught up in the backlog of stranded traffic and wouldn’t have made it down to Dumfries in time for the 7.45 pm kick off.

Even the match official was late to arrive at Palmerston Park. After he did it was announced that the encounter would initially be halted for an hour. But at about 7.55 pm, the match was postponed due to the gale force winds.

Queens supporters – and a handful of Pars fans – had to congregate at the Queens Arena and around the surrounding areas of Palmerston, waiting to hear if the game would go ahead or not.

And in the end, it wasn’t a surprise to both Queens and Dunfermline – who had travelled down earlier in the day and had a pre-match meeting in a nearby hotel – that the match was to be postponed.

However, supporters of both clubs have blasted the SPFL online for not calling the game off earlier in the day. A number of matches had fallen victim to the battering winds.

Murphy said: “In the end it was the correct decision but it should’ve been made atleast two hours before it was for the safety of the supporters and players.

“Our supporters – and of course the Dunfermline fans who travelled down when the roads have been bad – deserve better.

“Earlier on in the day, I heard some council staff around Dumfries were sent home at 1 pm due to the weather, but yet we’re asking fans to travel. And for the match to get called off at the last minute, I feel sorry for them.

“Our fans were outside the ground as well. It doesn’t make sense to me that we got to that position, it should’ve been called off earlier. Eventually the correct decision was made in the end.

“Both lanes of the M74 were blocked due to the accidents on the road. Five of my players would’ve got here at 8.40 pm and then would’ve had a warm up to do so it would’ve been well later than the 8.45 pm kick off that was proposed.

“This is a competition we want to get through to the next round in. I wasn’t a fan of the start of the competition because of the group stages, but we wanted to get through because it is quite lucrative for the club to generate some more income.

“So to try and go ahead with this game without five of our first team players, it would’ve given an advantage to the opposition.

“The weather wasn’t very good either and the referee was also stuck in traffic too but managed to get to the ground. It seems to be a little bit of a farce.

“It hasn’t been handled very well at all. A lot of questions need to be asked.”

The match will now take place on Tuesday, December 16, at 7.45 pm.