Larne are left kicking their heels

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Larne boss, Davy McAlindenLarne boss, Davy McAlinden
Larne boss, Davy McAlinden

So, it probably wasn’t a great shock that Larne’s match was off on Saturday.

But at least all connected to Inver Park were spared the long journey to Castlederg, thanks partly to opposing manager Richard Clarke.

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“In fairness to Richie and Dergview, they did everything they could to keep us abreast of the situation,” explained Larne manager, Davy McAlinden. “Richie actually sent me pictures of the pitch and there was no doubting that the ground was in a pretty bad state.”

“He was also telling me that PSNI had previously made the trip to play them and the pitch wasn’t in good condition either and the match had gone ahead and that only served to make things worse.

“We now have another free weekend, but it’s maybe not a bad thing at this stage ahead of the run for home in the league.

“The fact is we have quite a few players who are struggling to shrug off niggling injuries and this period will provide an opportunity to rid up all of those problems.

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“We are at home to Armagh City on Saturday week and it will all build up to the climax of the season, with matches for us against three of the top four clubs.

“It’s a strange situation in this division where cup matches take precedence and you look at the league table and see Carrick having played 13 of the 26 games and Donegal Celtic with 20 played, while the rest are at all the stages in between.

“It’s really messy but that is all going to change in a year or two with Championship 1 being reduced to 12 clubs and becoming a mirror image of the Premiership with uniformity of the playing season and that will be much better for all concerned.

“Until then, we will just have to put up with sitting out some Saturdays because of competitions like the Intermediate Cup.

“We couldn’t try to have a game played because the only outstanding fixture for us is against Dergview and they are hosting Carrick this weekend.”