Scottish football wasted no time at all in delivering a moment of madness in season 2021-22 – when a linesman was nearly replaced by a player in a League Two fixture.
Albion Rovers hosted Edinburgh City in the big SPFL kick-off on Saturday evening and led 2-0 through a Declan Byrne penalty and a Kyle Doherty strike.
But they almost gained another ‘advantage’ in the second half when referee Stewart Luke was injured and replaced in the middle by one of his linesmen.
With no fourth official at lower-league matches, that left Rovers man Max Wright to run the line.
A call that, according to the Cliftonhill Twitter account, left away manager Gary Naysmith “raging”.
They posted: "Madness at The Reigart Stadium. The referee is injured and can't continue. Our player Max Wright looks like he will be the 'official' running the line at the stand side... Gary Naysmith is erm raging."
Minutes later Rovers would admit everyone remained in the dark, adding: "We're still not underway. No one has a clue what's happening.
"At the moment Max Wright still has the lino's flag."
Finally after a long wait the club confirmed that the match would only continue with one linesman, and Scottish football officially returned to normality.
