DAVID Hopkin has blasted referee Steven Reid for his decision to call off Saturday’s game against Queen of the South only 80 minutes before kick-off.

The official deemed the channel in front of the main stand unplayable despite the ball being able to bounce and the pitch looking like it would hold up any hard running on it.

The decision was made just over an hour before kick-off much to the dismay of both managers and fans.

Ton dropped to ninth in the table after Partick Thistle’s win over Inverness before Hopkin’s men play bottom of the league side Alloa on Saturday.

The Ton gaffer lamented the decision, with the postponement understood to have cost the club a five figure sum.

He told the Tele: “We’ll not only have to rearrange the game in an already busy schedule, but we’ll take a financial hit now as well.

“The main frustration is that the game has been called off so late.

“Looking at the pitch there is nothing wrong with it, we can walk on it fine. It’s in the exact same condition as to when we played Dundee United on Tuesday night.

“We had a bit of water on the side of the park and we told the referee when he had come in that once the linesman has a chance to run up and down the park, then the pitch would be fine.

“There is one area at the nearside that has the bit of water on it, which again is the same as against Dundee United, but the referee has turned up at quarter to two knowing that fans are travelling up from Dumfries.

“It’s not good enough.

“There wasn’t any early indications that the game would be called off when we came in earlier this morning, we knew that the game would be on.

“Apart from the area in front of the dugout at the main stand the rest of the pitch was more than playable, so I’m just disappointed in the decision to call the game off.”

Hopkin sent his team out to train on the pitch after the call-off and found that they were passing the ball around with relative ease, leaving the Ton gaffer and his staff scratching their heads as to why the referee deemed the pitch unsafe in the first place.

He added: “It’s Greenock! It’s always raining.

“Everybody knows when they come here to expect rain.

“We’ve played in worse conditions than this, we’ve played in games where the full pitch has been like this.

“I just think it’s a poor decision to call it off because you can’t dictate the weather now that we’re in winter.

“We’re going to train on the pitch instead of playing on it, that’s what makes it even more frustrating.

“How can three referees turn up and do a pitch inspection in a pair of smart shoes?

“They should have been here earlier to do the inspection.

“I’m frustrated, Allan Johnston was frustrated when he left and ultimately the players are too because we all wanted the game to go ahead.

“It’s winter now, every grass pitch is going to be like this now going forward.”