Sub zero temperatures threaten East of Scotland card

Ryan Harding, right, is hoping their match at Ainslie Park is on [Pic: Dode Allen]

With the cold snap set to wreak havoc on the East of Scotland card, Hutchison Vale are hoping to take advantage with third place in their sights.

Their Premier Division match at home to Luncarty on Spartans’ artificial surface looks like having the best possible chance of going ahead to prevent a whiteout with temperatures set to continue to plummet overnight.

Hutchie have set idle the past two weeks with cup matches on the fixture card, and Harding’s squad are eager to get playing again following back-to-back victories on the road.

“We have done alright recently,” said Harding. We are in a much healthier position than we were last season, when we were constantly in that mix for relegation. From the off we have always said we wanted to see progression, so no matter where we finish it’s as long as there is progression on last season.

“We just want to play because we’ve not played the last two Saturdays with it being cup weekends. It’s not ideal, and looking at the weather, and if our game is called off, it will be four weeks without a competitive game.

“I think we’ve got a better chance than most teams of getting our game on. We’ve got that nice 3G pitch so we will always have a better chance than most teams, so we will always catch up on games, but the last thing we need is a backlog of games coming up.

“Being on the back of a couple of wins you just want to keep playing. To be fair to the lads, training has been good and there is a good atmosphere about the place – they have got that wee bounce about them, and they are eager to get going again.”

Hutchie have scored nine in their last three games, with two impressive away wins over Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts and Hill of Beath propelling them up to fifth place.

Harding is hoping they can take advantage, if their match is on, he continued: £When you look at the league, if there are games off tomorrow, three points would take us up to third.

“We are playing against a team with a new manager on the back of a 5-1 win over Penicuik last week, so if there is any team who want to play, it’s them, they will be desperate for the game to go ahead.

“I think fifth is a bit harsh on us to a certain degree, because at the start of the season there was a couple of games when we got beat and we should have got something out of the game.

“We are happy to just quietly plod along. Everyone is talking about Broxburn, they are speaking about Jeanfield, Musselburgh, Sauchie and Dunbar – let them. At no point are we talking about us being in contention or anything like that, we are literally just hoping to survive and get above that bottom third of the league.

“In this league, two or three wins in a row will shoot you right up the league.”