Rangers hoping 24-hour postponement of rained-off Livingston clash goes ahead

Rangers hope a 24-hour postponement will allow them to fulfil their rained-off Ladbrokes Premiership clash with Livingston and avoid a nightmare fixture pile-up.

Steven Gerrard’s team saw their Govan showdown with the Lions called off on Saturday just two hours before the scheduled 3pm kick-off as Storm Dennis left the Ibrox pitch swamped.

But the Scottish Professional Football League has now agreed with Gers’ request to try again at the same time on Sunday in a bid to avert a scheduling crisis for the hosts.

However, Livingston bosses have already expressed doubts that the game will beat the weather after revealing they had a call for the game to be played on Monday night rejected by league chiefs.

Heavy rain and driving gusts are again forecast to hit Glasgow on Sunday and Livi fear the state of the playing surface at Ibrox will not have improved in time to see the rescheduled clash to go ahead.

In a tweet, the club said: “We tried to rearrange for Monday night to allow the weather to pass & fans to make alternative arrangements but, ultimately, the decision was made by the SPFL.”

And Livingston’s supporter liaison officer Derek White went further when he Tweeted: “Extremely strange decision this. Called off today for a waterlogged pitch, but re-scheduled for tomorrow when all that is forecasted is more rain?”

But Rangers – who face Braga in a Europa League last-32 tie on Thursday night – are keen to get the game played as soon as possible.

They also have an outstanding game with St Johnstone to be rearranged after the original November date was postponed due to the Light Blues’ involvement in the Betfred Cup semi-finals.

And with the Ibrox side still involved in Europe and the William Hill Scottish Cup, the SPFL have limited options.

If Gers continue to march on in the Europa League, SPFL chiefs could be left with a scenario where they would have to wait until after the Premiership splits to squeeze that Saints fixture into the calendar.

And with that headache still to be sorted, Rangers did not want to exacerbate the issue by adding a second postponed fixture into the mix.

In a statement to the PA news agency, the club said: “Rangers can announce that the match against Livingston FC, which was postponed earlier this afternoon, will take place tomorrow (Sunday, February 16) with a 3pm kick off.

“Access cards and tickets, including match and hospitality tickets, issued for today’s game will be valid for the rescheduled match.

“The club apologises for any inconvenience caused to supporters.”

Saturday’s call-off comes just 10 days after Gerrard labelled the Ibrox pitch “awful”.

The Rangers boss said the club were trying to get to the bottom of the problem that had left it badly rutted during recent clashes with Aberdeen and Hibernian.

But the turf was in no better state on Saturday morning as it struggled to contain the heavy downpours brought by Dennis, forcing referee Euan Anderson to call a 12.30pm pitch inspection.

Gerrard was even spotted having a kick-about on the sodden surface as he tested it out for himself but was left disappointed as the officials were left with no choice but to call off Saturday’s showdown.