MORTON'S Scottish Cup tie against Dunfermline has been cancelled after the SFA suspended all levels of football below the Championship for three weeks.

Ton were due to face high-flying Dunfermline in a rescheduled second round clash at Cappielow tonight, with the winners set to face East Fife at New Bayview in the next round.

However, Hampden bosses have postponed all Scottish Cup ties and any fixtures below Championship level until February 1 amid growing coronavirus cases across Scotland.

The SFA said that the Championship will be able to continue 'provided it commences weekly PCR testing', with only Hearts currently carrying out daily testing operations.

Chief executive Dave MacKinnon previously revealed that such an exercise would set Morton back in the region of three and a half thousand pounds a week.

The SFA said: “Following a meeting between the Scottish FA and the Minister for Public Health Sport and Wellbeing, both parties have agreed to impose a temporary suspension of all football beneath the SPFL Championship, encompassing all predominantly part-time tiers of the Scottish professional pyramid, from midnight of tonight.

“The impacted leagues are: SPFL League One, SPFL League Two, Scottish Women’s Football Premier Leagues One and Two, Highland League, Lowland League, East West and South of Scotland Leagues, Scottish Junior FA Leagues and the North Caledonian League.

“The Scottish Cup will also be suspended, with any matches scheduled to be played prior to the 1st February to be rescheduled in due course.

“Based on the imperatives of acting in the best interests of public health and participant safety, whilst ensuring professional clubs’ survival, the SPFL Premiership will be exempt from the suspension, provided it continues to adhere to the stringent testing protocols.

“The SPFL Championship will also be able to continue provided it commences weekly PCR testing."

Scottish football bosses say the temporary halt would be reviewed on a ‘rolling basis’ as they look to see out the current campaign.

The statement said: “The suspension of the game below the SPFL Premiership and Championship will be for three weeks, until 31st January, and will be reviewed on a rolling basis by the Scottish FA Board in partnership with Scottish Government.

“The Scottish FA is well aware of the efforts all clubs take to comply with the exacting protocols that were conditional on elite football being given an exemption to continue amid the pandemic.

"After discussions with the SPFL, the Premiership and Championship will continue on the proviso that both adhere to the existing testing regime.

“The vast majority of teams in those divisions are full-time professional clubs and so the risk of transmission remains manageably low.

“The cost implications to lower-division clubs was one factor but so too the realisation that many – with some notable exceptions – consist of part-time players who are either prevented from working due to the virus or have to work.

“In either case, the risk is currently too great amid the developing nationwide spread of the virus."