Inverness Caley Thistle v Stenhousemuir delayed by 33 minutes as official suffers injury in warm up

A substitute linesman has saved Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s match with Stenhousemuir from being called off tonight after the original referee suffered an injury during the warm up.

For the second time this season, Caley Thistle made an appeal to the crowd asking if there was a qualified linesman or referee in attendance.

The appeal was made after George Calder, who was meant to be the referee tonight, suffered an injury during the warm up and indicated he was not able to officiate the match.

Billy Baxter, who was in attendance for tonight’s match as a referee supervisor, had the necessary qualifications and volunteered to be a linesman for the game, with Tommi Kerr being promoted from assistant referee to referee.

The match kicked off at 8.18pm, 33 minutes after the match was originally meant to kick-off as Inverness went on to win 4-1.

It is not the first time Inverness have made an appeal for a substitute official to ensure one of their matches could go ahead this season.

On September 21, supporter Jamie Mackinnon, who was watching Caley Thistle’s match with Cove Rangers, came down from the stands midway through the second half after referee Stewart Luke was forced to come off with a calf injury.

The IT service manager from Inverness had officiated an under-12’s match earlier in the day and had his referee’s kit in the car.

The match finished as a 1-1 draw.

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