Hearts have announced that their Ladbrokes Premiership game at Hamilton Academical, scheduled for Saturday 19th November 2016, will now be played on Monday 21st November 2016.
This is due to severe travel disruption expected in the New Douglas Park area that weekend. Hearts released the following statement through their official website:
Hearts’ Ladbrokes Premiership match away to Hamilton Academical on Saturday, November 19th has been rearranged for Monday, November 21st due to severe travel disruption.
The match will now kick off at 7.45pm.
The New Douglas Park clash was due to take place on the weekend that the Bothwellpark Road Bridge is to be demolished, forcing the road closure of the M74 between Junction 4 Maryville and Junction 5 Raith.
This closure will cause significant disruption to both north and southbound traffic on the M74 on approach, and to the surrounding local roads. Major delays are also expected on diversion routes.
Following talks with Hamilton Academical and the SPFL, all parties have decided to push the game back to Monday night in order to give supporters the best chance of seeing the match without facing severe travel disruption.
The club would like to assure fans that all other alternative options were looked at, including different routes to the game, but with traffic diversions also being used by up to 100,000 other road users on Saturday, particularly in areas of Glasgow where other SPFL games are taking place, moving the game was identified as the best possible solution.
The club apologises to those fans who have already made arrangements for the original fixture date but it has acted in the swiftest manner possible following the severity of the situation, and intended solutions, being raised on Monday.
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
