Saturday's match against Hibernian still due to go ahead with all three goalkeepers ruled out; Hearts' Bobby Zlamal joins on emergency loan deal
Saturday 12 September 2020 12:57, UK
Three St Mirren goalkeepers have been excluded from the squad for 10 days after two tested positive for coronavirus, the Joint Response Group has confirmed, with the trio unavailable for the clash against Hibernian.
Jak Alnwick tested positive earlier this week before a second unnamed player followed - who has now been confirmed as another goalkeeper - while a third unnamed goalkeeper who tested negative has been deemed a "potential risk" and has also been excluded. St Mirren's three goalkeepers are Alnwick, Dean Lyness and Peter Urminksy.
Despite having all three goalkeepers ruled out, St Mirren's Premiership match at home to Hibernian on Saturday will go ahead as planned, with the club signing Hearts' Bobby Zlamal on an emergency loan deal.
A Joint Response Group statement said: "The Joint Response Group has been in dialogue throughout the day with the Scottish Government's medical advisers to establish the facts and implications of St Mirren's positive COVID-19 tests."
"The club informed us that two goalkeepers (Goalkeeper A and Goalkeeper B) have tested positive for COVID-19, confirmed by follow-up NHS tests. As a result, both players will be excluded from the squad for 10 days and pending the return of negative tests.
"The Scottish Government's Clinical Adviser on COVID & Sports, in conjunction with Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board Health Protection Team and Health Protection Scotland, have confirmed to the JRG that there is not enough evidence to support postponing tomorrow's Scottish Premiership fixture between St Mirren and Hibernian.
"As a result, the Scottish Professional Football League - as the league body with jurisdiction - have confirmed that the game will go ahead as planned. All St Mirren players will be retested on Sunday ahead of their midweek Scottish Premiership fixture against Celtic.
"In addition, after analysis of club GPS data, the local health board's Health Protection Team also consider a third goalkeeper, Goalkeeper C, to be at potential risk of transmission given close proximity to team-mates.
"To mitigate the potential that Goalkeeper C - who returned a negative test - may have the virus in incubation, he will also be excluded as a precaution on the advice of the local health protection team, public health experts and government's clinical advisers and be re-tested on Sunday."
St Mirren were at the centre of a case in July when seven members of staff tested positive - but six of those were found later to be false positive tests.
"St Mirren Football Club can confirm that tomorrow's match against Hibernian will go ahead," the Premiership side said in a statement.
"The club received very late confirmation from the SPFL this evening following a meeting between the Scottish Government and Joint Response Group.
"The club have been informed that due to positive test results and track and trace protocols, our goalkeepers, Jak Alnwick, Dean Lyness and Peter Urminsky are all ineligible for tomorrow's match.
"With less than 24 hours' notice our only option is to attempt to bring in an eligible goalkeeper on loan and the club are working hard to do so and we will update fans as soon as possible once a deal is complete.
"The club has rigorously followed all protocols put in place by the Scottish Government and the SPFL/SFA Joint Response Group and we will continue to do so.
"This is a very difficult situation for all concerned and we will continue to discuss with the SPFL how cases like this are dealt with in the future but we can assure St Mirren fans that we are doing all we can to make sure that we have a strong team for tomorrow's match.
"The club will not be issuing any other statement on this matter."
Neil Doncaster, SPFL chief executive, added: "I understand this is an extremely challenging situation for St Mirren but it demonstrates that the current testing regime is working, by detecting positive COVID-19 tests expeditiously, enabling the appropriate health boards to implement test and protect protocols that isolates those individuals who test positive, but allow football to continue safely and with confidence.
"We have been in dialogue with the club throughout the day and are grateful to the Scottish Government's Clinical Adviser on COVID & Sports for joining today's JRG meeting to provide reassurance, clarity and recommendations for consideration based on expert clinical advice."
