Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes insisted the Dons travelled in the hope their game against Livingston would be on.
The game on December 30 was shelved with less than two hours before kick-off, as the Tony Macaroni Arena pitch failed a 2pm inspection.
Freezing temperatures had made it difficult for Livingston staff to get the pitch playable on time, with McInnes revealing they opted against requesting an earlier inspection to give Livi time to work on the surface.
However, when Dons goalkeeping coach Gordon Marshall travelled ahead of the rest of the Aberdeen coaching staff, he reported back that it looked an uphill task to get the game on.
McInnes said: “We mentioned maybe having an earlier inspection and it was suggested to us that if we’d had an earlier inspection, then the likelihood is the game would have been cancelled.
🗓️ Following yesterday's postponement, our game with Livingston will now take place on Wednesday 13th January at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
⌚️ Kick off, 7.45pm. pic.twitter.com/BfZtCZtyr5
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) December 31, 2020
“Livingston were confident that the game had a good chance of being played, the longer we left the inspection to give them more time to work on the pitch.
“From our point of view, we travelled in hope that the game would be okay. Our staff are having to travel in cars at the minute because of the (lack of) space on the bus and I’d asked Gordon Marshall to head into Livingston for about 11am and he had concerns that the pitch wouldn’t be passed fit at that time.
“We still prepared as normal. We were just about to start our team meeting and we got the call to say that the game is not going to be passed fit.
“It happens, it’s not the first time you’ve travelled to a game and it’s been called off. I do think that we gave it every chance to get the game played and had we insisted on the 10am inspection, then it might have been a bit foolish if the pitch was going to be more ready come 2pm.
“From what Gordon said at 11am, it was clear we were up against it.”
The Aberdeen manager added that a delay to the kick-off would not have made it any more likely for the game to be played.
It had originally been scheduled for 7.45 but was brought forward to an earlier start.
McInnes added: “We’d already changed on their request to make it a 4pm kick off from 7.45.
“That (the 7.45) was put to us, and by the same token, we looked at temperatures in Livingston, and throughout the day they weren’t going to get above minus one. It was actually going to be even colder come quarter to eight.
“We were thinking by that train of thought, that if they can’t get the pitch ready for a 4pm kick off, then how likely is it that it’s going to be ready for quarter to eight and the temperature is dropping. Maybe then the pitch will be more dangerous.
“We didn’t see the reasoning or the rational that the pitch would be less at risk to play the game by the referee. We knew the temperature would be dropping again. For us to be playing a game at that, we thought it was more likely that the referee would pass a pitch inspection for 4pm rather than quarter to 8.”
Aberdeen are back in action tomorrow against Dundee United. The Livingston game has been rearranged for January 13.