No replay of abandoned county league match between High Ormlie Hotspur and Wick Groats
More than three weeks after the last ball was kicked, the Caithness amateur season is officially over with confirmation that the abandoned match between High Ormlie Hotspur and Wick Groats will not be replayed.
Officials from the Caithness Amateur Football Association (CAFA) carried out an investigation into the events that led to the first division game being called off by referee Liam Bremner after he had shown two red cards to Groats' Grant MacNab during the half-time break.
Groats, who were the reigning champions, had been level on points with Pentland United going into the final round of fixtures on August 23 but the Dunnet club had a superior goal difference. Groats were trailing 1-0 when their match at Morrison Park in Halkirk was halted, while United beat Wick Thistle 6-1 in their game at Ham Park and were presented with the league trophy afterwards.
A statement has been requested from CAFA. In the meantime, the association has issued a revised league table showing that the High Ormlie v Groats result stands at 1-0.
It means runners-up Groats finished the campaign three points behind Pentland United. High Ormlie remained in fourth place in the eight-team division.
Wick Groats apologised at the time of the incident and said that "no official should ever feel threatened".
Their manager Kevin Anderson said yesterday: "We were notified of CAFA's decision that the half-time score would stand. We did have a right to appeal via the Scottish AFA, which may well have gone in our favour.
"However, as a club, we had already discussed possible outcomes and the only way we would have played the game again would have been if we'd been forced to due to the nature of why the game was abandoned.
"Hopefully next season we can get back to fulfilling all our games."