91Èȱ¬

Partick Thistle's Scottish Premiership meeting with St Johnstone was abandoned at half-time due to bad weather.

There was concern about whether the game would go ahead but it kicked off as scheduled.

However, heavy rain, high winds and puddles in one corner of the pitch frequently held the ball up in the first half.

And, after a goalless 45 minutes, the game was called off by referee Kevin Clancy.

"The key issue, which is of paramount importance, was player safety," Clancy told 91Èȱ¬ Radio Scotland.

"A large section of the pitch was starting to hold the water and the ball wasn't moving at points, the ball wasn't really bouncing at points. On occasions, players who were running with the ball were actually over-running the ball and it was being left behind them.

"So, we decided to re-assess the situation at half-time. The conditions had deteriorated really throughout the first half, the rain was constant.

"And, having looked again at the situation, we thought for player safety and for the benefit of the game we would abandon the match.

"I have to pay credit to the ground staff at Partick Thistle who worked on the pitch before the match and again at half-time.

"Before the match we felt the pitch was playable, although I did have a word with both managers before the game to explain that, whilst I thought it was playable, we would obviously have to take into account if it continued to rain it may provide us with a potential problem."

Thistle manager Alan Archibald commented: "At the end of the day it was probably the right decision.

"We picked up a booking [for Gabriel Piccolo] that stands, which is disappointing. We picked up an injury in Isaac Osbourne. He took a knock in his ankle."

St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright felt Clancy "had no choice but to abandon the game".

"Kevin's got a lot of responsibility to the players' safety and there was a lot of water on the far side of the pitch," he added.