DONALD Findlay, the Cowdenbeath chairman, last night described Rangers kitman Jimmy Bell as the "driving force" behind the controversial decision to call-off his club's Scottish Cup tie with the Ibrox side.

The match was cancelled because an inspection concluded that corners of the Central Park pitch, where the grass was hard, presented a danger to the players, despite the best efforts of the League Two club and their volunteers who had worked to ensure the game went ahead.

Bell and another member of the Rangers staff were sent to inspect the pitch yesterday afternoon and relayed a message back to Steven Gerrard that they were concerned about the areas in question which far more solid than the rest of the surface – with temperatures set to drop.

Cowdenbeath were angry at the decision which they believe was wrong; however, there was good news in that while they would have lost some revenue, PremierSports will show the rearranged match on Wednesday, January 30, so the Fife outfit won’t lose out on the much-needed television revenue.

Findlay, the former vice-chairman of Rangers, was left stunned by how the decision, which was announced just over two hours before kick-off, came to be made.

He said: “A referee was summoned but apparently the driving force behind the decision appears to be the Rangers kitman, which, to me, seems a bit odd. I don’t know all the facts but that is the story that is kicking about.

“The referee looked at the pitch and has said there are areas that are unacceptable. I have to say I don’t agree.

“I have been on the pitch and I have looked at it. It is a winter pitch - if it is not pouring with rain then it is going to be firm but it will take a key and it would take a stud. I certainly don’t see any difficulty and the game should have been played but it has been killed off.

“I have spoken to Gary Bollan (Cowdenbeath manager) very briefly. His view was the same as mine. It is very, very disappointing.

"It’s a word that you don’t want to (see in) print but it is a shambles. There are also huge financial implications. We also had corporate guests set-up and the tickets are non-refundable - although they will be valid for the next game.”

Bollan, himself an ex-Rangers player had sympathy with local referee, Scott Miller who made the decision before match referee, Craig Thomson, made it to Cowdenbeath, but believed there had been enough time to make the pitch playable.

He said: “I’m frustrated, I’m disappointed and I’m annoyed if I am honest. We have trained well all week and to get to this late stage on the Friday night and have the game called off is massively disappointing.

“At this current moment in time, at the area where we are standing, it is probably touch and go. But by kick off, with a bit of work on it, it could have been playable.

“I spoke to the club officials earlier in the day and apart from one corner of the pitch they were hugely confident of getting the game on. It was a surprise the referee was called at 4.30pm. The ref explained his reasons to me.

“I wouldn’t say I have to agree with them but I have to take them on board. Players have played on worse. I was going to bring the players into train because 100 per cent it’s safe enough to train on.”

Bollan admitted that while his side were huge under-dogs, he felt that a cold Friday night might be his team’s best chance of causing an upset against Gerrard’s Rangers.

The Cowdenbeath manager said: “We didn’t think Rangers would be rusty because they would be training hard. But they did have two weeks off and practice games aren’t the same as competitive games. There could have been that slight chance where we could have caught them.

“I feel for the players and the people behind the scenes because so much work had gone into this. There was hospitality on here, a lot of work had gone on and I feel for the people behind the scenes at Cowdenbeath.

“Hopefully the television will come back and hopefully we can still get the TV money.

“But some of my players have taken days off for this and they will need to do so again next week. Whether their employers grant them that remains to be seen.”

Findlay agreed that his hometown’s best chance of at least giving Rangers a scare had probably gone.

He said: “Tonight was about Rangers coming here to play and we were ready. From our point of view, it also suited us because Rangers have a whole load of new players they haven’t bedded in yet and by the time the game is replayed they will have been bedded in.

“We were all looking to see Jermaine Defoe and all the others play. I am not saying we could have won the game but it was our best chance before Rangers got all these guys settled in but that opportunity has now gone. It would have been a very special night and now we have lost that.”

David Allan, the Cowdenbeath secretary, insisted the club had did all it could to ensure the game went ahead as planned.

He said: “We put the covers on the pitch on Wednesday but the problem was a big gale which lifted a couple of the sheets off and exposed two or three areas to the cold.

"We put the covers back on but the areas exposed are the side of the pitch which does not get much sun.

“We did various things today to ensure the pitch was playable but there are two areas which are just too hard. The referee (Scott Miller) will not be a popular man I guess but I don't blame him. He had a difficult job and I made sure no-one from either side went out to influence him.

“Rangers and ourselves both wanted the game on but it's disappointing for everybody. This is the problem with winter in Scotland. We could have called the game off early but we wanted to give it every chance of the game going ahead.”