THE PARS say they are "hopeful" that Saturday's Championship clash with Queen's Park will go ahead.

They are scheduled to take on the Spiders for a second time in 15 days at KDM Group East End Park, with tomorrow's fixture being rearranged having been postponed in early December.

With both clubs out of the Scottish Cup, in which fourth round ties are being played across the weekend, the league fixture is due to take place on what otherwise would have been a free Saturday.

Dunfermline Press:

However, Athletic moved last night (Thursday) to provide an update on the playing surface, which was waterlogged and unplayable due to a fault with the undersoil heating system - which they have confirmed has not been turned on, despite a fix having been made - for Saturday's game with Airdrieonians.

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"Following last Saturday’s postponed match, the issues within the undersoil heating system have now been resolved, the excess water drained and pitch repaired," they said.

"However with the minus temperatures setting in early this week, we have been unable to test the undersoil heating system fully and, as a precaution, it has not been turned on ahead of Saturday’s match.

"At present the pitch is currently frozen, but with temperatures due to rise tomorrow (Friday, today) afternoon and Saturday ahead of kick off, we are hopeful the Queen’s Park match will go ahead.

"Any further updates will be communicated to supporters in due course."

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On Saturday, a 10am pitch inspection was called ahead of the game with the Diamonds, which was called off shortly afterwards due to a "failure in the undersoil heating system" that caused a "large amount of water" to gather on the pitch.

Pars chairman and CEO, David Cook, apologised to supporters for the postponement, and said they were "disappointed" not to be able to host the game.

Dunfermline, who have gone five games without a win, have lost their last two matches, the most recent being a 2-1 defeat to Queen's Park at Hampden on January 5.