St Mirren awarded win over Dumbarton as Covid forces postponement of cup clash

St Mirren have been awarded a 3-0 Premier Sports Cup win over Dumbarton after their League One opponents were hit by a coronavirus issue.

The game is the second of Saturday’s ties to be postponed because of Covid-19.

Ross County were consigned to a 3-0 loss on Thursday after an outbreak among their players and staff put paid to their trip to Forfar.

A league statement read: “Dumbarton informed the SPFL that a player had tested positive for Covid-19 and, as a result of close contacts and player injuries, they do not have sufficient players available to fulfil the fixture.”

St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin had spoken of his fears of further disruption before the Dumbarton issue emerged.

“As long as we are testing, the numbers will continue to show up,” Goodwin said.

“We test three times a week with the lateral flow and there are some inaccuracies involved with the lateral flow. I think there’s a 75 per cent success rate so there are going to be false positives.

“The problem with that is if you get them on the morning of the game you can’t get the results of a PCR test back in time for kick-off.

“That’s the predicament that every club in the league is going to find themselves in.

“It might be even a little bit more difficult this year to control things because last year the players and staff weren’t able to go to pubs and restaurants and there wasn’t any real socialising, whereas this year everything is pretty much back up and running, albeit with restrictions in place.

“We can only ask the lads to be sensible, to make sure they are managing the hygiene side and wearing masks, and try not to find themselves in too many over-populated areas.

“Hopefully that gives us a good chance of keeping the virus away from our club.”

Meanwhile, Aberdeen have submitted an application to the city council to host 8,200 fans for their Europa Conference League clash with BK Hacken on July 22 and the Premiership visit of Dundee United on August 1.

Celtic earlier announced only 2,000 fans would be admitted to their friendly against Preston at Parkhead on July 17 but the Dons are hopeful of restrictions easing days later, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon due to give an update on Tuesday.

An Aberdeen statement read: “The ongoing uncertainty isn’t helpful with the start of the season just two weeks away but we’re prepared for all eventualities, and remain encouraged, not only by statements being made, but also the sizes of crowds at other sporting events, that we will have larger crowds at Pittodrie Stadium after August 9.”

Football clubs are working with the Scottish Government to help the fight against Covid by opening up their grounds to pop-up vaccination centres, in a bid to encourage under-30s in particular to get protection against the virus.

Scottish Football Association chief executive Ian Maxwell stated the intention was to “put the national game at the heart of the roll-out” by using players as role models to the younger population.

He added: “With the new season soon to get under way, the pop-up vaccine centres also enable clubs to align the vaccination of their players efficiently, which in turn will help provide a greater degree of confidence and certainty ahead of the new season.

“We would encourage clubs to take up this opportunity and urge everyone – especially those now eligible between 18 and 29 – to get vaccinated to make sure we can get back together, in football stadia and in everyday life.”