rory success

I understand that the tickets are non-refundable per SFA.Sorry but that is the rules. The clubs can make arrangements accordingly ie can refund if they wish The Locos were obliged to give Motherwell 500 tickets which I undertand wa based on the kind of travelling support to Aberdeen. Well asked for more. The Locos allocation of 2000 was sold out therefore they had no more to give. Motherwell are responsible for the cost of the 500 tickets. I am guessing that having demanded more than 500 it would have been embarrassing for an SPL club to be saying please take some back. The Locos committee had a waiting list in excess of 500 for any returned tickets and so would probably have taken returns if sufficient advance notice was given. there was a lot of disappointed people who could not get to this unique match. Lets say 200 fans have unused tickets. Surely the Well could afford to give them a refund? £3 grand compared with the £15 grand they were willing to shelve out for the balloon? Please guys dinny come lookin to a HFL club at grass root football for a handout.

Thanks for that Al . your good wishes are appreciated. Hope you guys enjoyed the snowball fight last night!

Best Team won. Fair enough. But the divide between HFL and SPL was a lot narrower than I expected. That was a good performance from the Locos against a class side. The divide was as I saymuch less than I expected and it would be good to see the video of the match as while Well were the sharper side and a tad fitter locos tried to play just as much football. I think anyone watching or listening would be impressed with what the HFL side had to offer. The first goal was a killer but the way we fought back was tremendous. Well done all the lads, the management, the committee but most of all the ground staff who I talked to at two today and were still working at ten tonight. Without you guys there would have been no match! A great advert for the HFL. Hope you have something left to beat the Buddies and those who visited the backwater will come back on a nice summers day ! Brilliant snowball fight behind the goal - that's what football matches were like when I was growing up in the sixties.

Here! Here! The snow has gone off the last hour or so , just occasional flurry. Lights have been on at Harlaw for the last hour so I assume the park is getting the final touches with the brush machine. must be game on now but I assume Willie Collum has still to arrive. he refferd our last match in the cup and I was impressed with his handling of the game.

I'd recommend getting 4-0 up and seeing the game out. Professional players trying to make a fool of semi-pro's might be a recipe for disaster for the remainder of your season. You still have a cup game on saturday to think about !

Lookin forward te some banter the nicht. Oor lads train in this weather aw the time efter a days wirk. Will see what the pros are made o on a cauld night in the Garioch and some highland league style fitba

Well wont exist by that Time Andy, well perhaps as a small company renting inflatibles at inflated prices to the half dozen teams left playing in the euorleague.

What about your two months last season ? Conveniently forgotten. I thought you guys had blankets,balloons etc.

TOO TRUE WEEYIN Heres a quote from the HFL website , not from a locos fan but another. ...is it factual ? Pot, kettle, black springs to mind over Motherwell's stance in this. The club's management would appear to have short memories. This time last year there were eight postponements at Fir Park in two months because of pitch problems there. And spare a thought for Vale of Leithen in all this. It cost them £8,000 and three fruitless journeys in the last round, nothing compared to what Motherwell have had to endure so far.

snow more like sleet although it is lying on the road, given the work done on the park I will be surprised if its greatly affected . Pretty sure it will be slippy enough to casue concern. TBH if i was due to head to Fir park Iwould be having second thoughts as you are goin into a snow storm. Gettin here might be OK but will Lanarkshire be open when you return.? rory

I was on the pitch 30 minutes ago. They have a machine which brushes the snow and everywhere was green except the lines which were in the middle of being painted. I spoke to the groundsman who is heartily sick of the criticism that has been received about this tie and he knows just how much time and effort has gone into getting this game played with effectively volunteers doing much of the work along with help from Pittodrie Ground staff. When decisions are made about covers on, covers off they are made locally using local weather forecasts and knowledge of the pitch. Anyone who knows anything will tell you that putting a cover on a pitch that is already frozen is about as stupid as you can get. How come every punter seems to become a horticultural specialist overnight. Thee is a dusting of snow now with a sky that is full of it. I'm sure efforts will be made to ensure that the ties is played . There is probably not time for the pitch to freeze before and I dont think Motherwells balloon would have been of much use.

Look , you guys canny get a match on when yeve got aw the fancy balloons , blankets and covers . We are a wee HFL team , grass roots football, run on a tight budget. We have Pittodries cover and their ground staff advising us. Not often you will find a call off there. You need to go back into the glass house and put the stones in the rockery first.

... and the grass banking slopes away fromthe pitch ! bring yer sledges seriously , at the moment its just a dusting of snow by our standards so should be a goer rory

it gets worse . Not sure who tis dame is speaking for Motherwell but she should have the brains to realise that she can't bully succesful businessmen into forking out several grand for no good reason. this is from the club website. you will see the conversation is witnessed .I think I know who is mad ! The Harlaw Park club prepared the following statement on Saturday night ahead of any reviewed discussions more agreeable to the home team:It reads: "Leanne Dempster telephoned Steve Innes at around 12 noon on Thursday 29th January offering a "gesture" from Motherwell FC to the Locos - the use of the state of the art defrosting facilities owned by Motherwell FC. Following deliberation regarding the ideal time that this apparatus would require to be most effective, and the actual time available as a consequence of our important league tie with fellow title contenders Buckie at Harlaw Park on 31st Jan, it was discussed that this equipment could be operational from 5pm Saturday until Monday 2nd Feb lunchtime. The proposal appeared initially to be an excellent way forward in trying to ensure the rearranged game could proceed to be played on Monday. However, it was disclosed that Motherwell were requiring payment of £5,000 "costs" and that additional running costs, estimated at £1,000 made the proposal unacceptable to the Locos. Leanne Dempster proceeded to suggest that we were "mad" not to accept the proposal. Several times she quoted the word "mad". Steve Innes's mobile was on "hands-free", primarily so that Eddie Innes ( Vice Chairman ) and fellow Committee member Allan Booth were able to listen carefully to what technical requirements might be necessary. They heard the words used by Ms Dempster and were not surprised when Steve Innes abruptly ended the telephone conversation by stating she should call again when she was prepared to take a different stance" Thank you Leanne Dempster. If the backwater comment was not sufficient to rile people then she sure has done the trick.

another view of the Dairy....and its not our centrecalf its our centre caf

Defo no snow here at the moment. Forecast is it will start arriving at midnight. No chance of the match being off as the temperature is well up on recent weeks. Risk is around the windchill and getting any fallen snow off the covers. I assume covers will stay on until afternoon. Sorry we couldn't use 'wells hot air balloon - we already have a Manager.

what like Fir park has ? pit anither shillin in the leccy meter in case there's a replay Thirsday

Over 90 of the towns shops, pubs , restaurants, bookies, churches et have been adorned in red and black since early January. The lingerie shops have seen the most lingering of fans ! my favourite is the tile shop - seems classic in every way

Thought we bossed the game from start to finish. If Rossco plays anything like that tomorrow Mark will be taking him back to 'well on the club coach. Cannot see Tommy getting away with reffing the match tomorrow. You got your demands for the front two. Perhaps DC was correct with his selection at the Broch after all . while Gauldie played fine I would want him saved for the League match next week. Perhaps they can start with Than Tan Tran and Couller. Youth and experience. And of course the remaining 8 on the goal liline with Andy playing just in front. cant have him being unsighted again! Laughable when you consider the antics/tactics of Tommy at free kicks that we should lose one like that. My prediction for tomorrow..... Match abandoned after 30 minutes in a blizzard. Replayed Saturday rory

Probably between 100 and 300. If its Huntly probably 300 , more for a cup match. If it's Fortwilliam probably struggling to make a hundred. A cup Final would see us 500 + However we do have the the dubious honour of being the first HFL club to fly to a match in Scotland ! We chartered a plane and took the 12 minute flight to Wick (as opposed to the 5 hour drive) - it took longer to drive to Aberdeen Airport than the flight itself. Fortunately we won ! That's why all our rivals describe us as "high flying locos" - bit like the "super calley" nomenclature.(look it up) rory

Covers are off at Harlaw - not sure why - story goes they will be back on tomorrow. At least you guys will have last seasons experience of playing on a ploughed field to sustain you when you do arrive ! (our rollers have been knicked - an a dinnae mean the chairmans cars or his missus's coiffure set). Tomorrow - Battle of Harlaw - check yer history books !

I've been sent to collect you Andy. Now get out of this forum and stay out . Ye know what yev been telt. Mingling with these Scottish Steelmen isnae guid fir ye. You get back into that HLNET forum and stay there ! rory

Piddling down in Inverurie today, ground softening up in the main as temperatures have risen. I guess being a "backwater" as Mark puts it there is some kind of assumption that we dont take our footy seriously but I can assure you we do. This winter has been a nightmare for Locos after a brilliant start to the HFL campaign we have hardly kicked a ball in two months. Honestly for the regular fans who turn up every week this match is pretty unimportant in comparison with the league campaign and with all respect if we had to get an SPL we would have preferred the Dons or any of the big two from the East or West. The covers are still down, I understand will get lifted am tomorrow and put down again after the match so expect something that looks like Hampden with a slope ! Unfortunately the forecast is not great for Sunday (If the snow does come it will be a bigger problem) so no-one here is particularly hopeful of getting it played before next Saturday. At least a Sauturday game would be a bonus to our players as they wont be approaching a match after a day of grafting while the steelmen have a light run around and afternoon kip. You guys should still win by a country mile. Coincidentally it's 50 years since and HFL club knocked out a top side ( Dundee WERE a top clup in 1959) so twice in 50 years would be good. Hope the guys who do finally make it here enjoy their time in Inverurie - it's a smashing place to live and work - and normally its never cold ! we have a few well supporters , escaped weegies and the like so there will be a chance you will here some Doric from an amber and claret clad fan ? One things for sure the rules as they stand dont allow a change of venue - if you guys had regularly brought more than 3000 to Pittodrie instead of 300 you could have had a case. Nobody here wants it to go to Pittodrie and Fir Park is out of the question - thats like saying if you drew Celtic it should be switched to Parkhead cos they know how to switch on the leccy. rory