Scottish club Johnstone Burgh to split squad and play two cup matches at same time

A Scottish football club will split its squad after being handed two games in different cup competitions on the same day.

Lowland League West side, Johnstone Burgh, will play two cup ties on Saturday, November 21, away from home – against Tayport in the Scottish Communities Cup at 2.30pm, and against Dunipace in the Lowland League Cup at 3pm.

They have confirmed that both ties will be played with two separate squads.

The club said they are “extremely disappointed” at being forced to split their squad for the fixtures, and had “explored every possible option” to avoid the fixture clash.

“We have explored every possible option to find a suitable solution that would allow us to play the tie out with a Saturday afternoon as our schedule is already full”, a statement read.

“This has included attempting to rearrange league fixtures and South Challenge Cup ties, travelling to Tayport midweek, playing Tayport on a Friday night or Sunday afternoon, and, most recently, offering to play the Communities Cup tie immediately before or after our upcoming Lowland League Cup fixture.

“In addition, we offered to forfeit our share of the gate money to help cover any inconvenience caused by rearranging the fixture.

“Despite exhausting every option available to us, we have been unable to reach a solution that allows us to play out with a Saturday afternoon.

“Regrettably, we now find ourselves in a position where our Communities Cup tie and Lowland League Cup tie must be played on the same day, at the same time, on Saturday, November 21.

“We are extremely disappointed that, despite our best efforts, we have been unable to find a reasonable solution that would allow us to compete in both games with our strongest available squad.

“We’d like to thank Tayport and the other clubs we have spoken to for considering the options we have put to them, and understand that clubs want to stay within the traditional Saturday afternoon kick-off times.

“We want to reassure our supporters that every avenue has been explored and every effort has been made to find a workable solution. It certainly hasn’t been for the lack of trying.”