Neilston were understandably surprised to turn up for their crunch Conference C clash with Glasgow Perthshire to discover a pitch with unpainted lines.
The Farmer’s Boys arrived at Keppoch Park looking to bounce back from a disappointing defeat to Petershill.
But they were shocked to discover the lines on the park hadn’t been painted, with Glasgow Perthshire unable to gain access to their equipment container.
After the referee called the SFA to check what happens in the rare event, once it was discovered the points would be forfeited the club were able to gain access with kick-off delayed by 30 minutes.
Neilston co-boss Chris Cameron revealed he’s never experienced anything like the delay as a player or a manager, but paid tribute to his players for dealing with both the novel delay and the rough treatment his players had to face up to on a difficult afternoon in Glasgow.
Cameron told Express Sport: “When we arrived the pitch wasn’t ready because they hadn’t lined their park.
“They said they had no paint as they couldn’t get access to their container because they’d lost the key.
“The referee delayed kick-off and rang the SFA to find out what to do. He told them they’d have to forfeit the points, and then suddenly the key managed to be found.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life. It was a bit embarrassing, to be honest.
“I knew they were struggling for bodies and they were missing a lot of key players.
“You could tell they had a few players in there that were only there to mix things up, they weren’t interested in playing football.
“They had one boy sent off for a wild tackle and then they brought a sub on who only lasted a few minutes before getting sent off as well.
“I have to give credit to the boys because it wasn’t an easy afternoon by any stretch. To come away with all three points was pleasing.”
Neilston took the lead through Kieran Brophy and should have had the game out of sight by half-time.
The hosts equalised from a long-throw in just before the break, with Dylan Fletcher’s second half winner ensuring the Farmer’s Boys keep up with the other three teams breaking away at the top of the Conference C table.
Cameron added: “We said to the boys before kick-off that it was a must-win game.
“That’s the first time I’ve said that and we reiterated it at half time. We were playing for our season.
“We missed three or four really good chances to have the game wrapped up by half-time, which was so frustrating. That’s been the story of our season so far.
“With them missing so many players, if we hadn’t come away with all three points it would have been a really sore one to take.
“We’ve got three games in a row at home now against teams in the top half of the table. We’ve beaten them all away, so we should be confident of doing the same at home.”
