As SportTimes pictures reveal today, the playing surface at Cappielow is frozen solid and already Ton chiefs are resigning themselves to the 11,000 sell-out clash against Tony Mowbray’s side being postponed.

The SFA are set to schedule pitch inspections as early as Thursday to give fans plenty of notice on whether or not their club’s matches will go ahead.

But there is little hope of more than half a dozen of the scheduled 16 cup ties taking place, and that is likely to have a knock-on affect on rescheduled SPL games, including Celtic’s trip to Kilmarnock on January 20 which may now be required for the cup match in Greenock. Morton groundsman Mark Farrell said today: “It looks as though there is going to be one winner this weekend – and that’s the weather. The pitch is frozen solid.”

And co-boss James Grady said: “We are doing everything we can, but it’s not looking good. The weather has been poor again overnight and that hasn’t helped.”

It is likely to be the third week in a row that Scottish football has been almost wiped out by the wintry weather.

Officials at Albion Rovers, Forfar Athletic and Ayr United are already all but resigned to their games being postponed. Despite some pitches being playable, other cup ties may get called off because of police concerns about public safety.

The latest a pitch inspection can be scheduled for a Scottish Cup tie is four hours before kick-off, but the SFA said today they are on stand-by to act quickly.