Administrators who are now running the cash-strapped club are understood to have secured some of the £100,000 they were seeking in a cash advance from the SPL after a meeting today.

That will allow some bills to be paid, and will finance transport to the game.

It had seemed doubtful the fixture would go ahead until the league stepped in.

A spokesman for the SPL said: "Gretna are a member club of the SPL and we are doing what we can to support Gretna.

"Our overwhelming aim in all this is to make sure they can fulfil the rest of their fixtures."

But Gretna, whose very existence is on the line after millionaire backer Brooks Mileson withdrew funding, will field a beleaguered side for the game at Pittodrie.

After every member of the playing staff was told they were free to go this week, several have decided not to take part tomorrow.

The side will be without young goalkeeper Greg Fleming, midfielder Nicky Deverdics, skipper Murray and defender Chris Innes, who are all refusing to play for the stricken team.

A spokesman for the club confirmed caretaker boss Mick Wadsworth would fill the gaps with players from the under-19 team.

PFA Scotland chief executive Fraser Wishart explained: "The players are still stuck in limbo as they have been for a number of weeks now.

"The situation there is pretty bleak and everybody wants the club to survive, but these players have got to look after themselves as individuals as well, as many of them have mortgages and families to look after.

"And also you have the situation where there are transfer deadlines pressing so from that point of view it is very important that the club survives and that the players' future is clarified.

"There is some goodwill there but it is an individual decision for the players if they want to take part or not.

"The administrators did say that they wouldn't ask the players or any employee in any firm to work if he couldn't guarantee that they were getting paid.

"It's very difficult for footballers because, if the club does survive, some of these players might want to move on to other clubs and obviously they have to weigh up the pros and cons of that.

"They might want to play as professional players but they might pick up an injury that stops them getting a club elsewhere.

"Players get to a high level by having team spirit and being part of a team ethic, and at the moment each person has to look after their own situation so it's a very difficult time for them all."

It emerged this afternoon that an Irish consortium - fronted by former Carlisle manager Roddy Collins - may be preparing a bid to buy out the club.

Collins was reported by the BBC to have said he and members of the property developers the McMullen Group will meet administrators at Raydale Park on Tuesday to discuss options.

Any new owner would also face a £350,000 tax bill but administrator David Elliot, of Wilson Field Ltd, appears determined to give Gretna every opportunity to continue until the end of the season.

That is despite the failure of an SOS plea to Mileson, who bankrolled the club's rapid rise from the Third Division to the SPL to the tune of around £8million.

Mileson's input ended when he contracted a brain infection last month, sending the club spiralling to the blink of oblivion.

The SPL will look into the Gretna crisis to see whether anything can be learned, but they insist tighter financial regulations could cause more problems than they solve.

The league spokesman said: "We will look at this area and this will be reviewed but it's easier said than done in terms of a simple solution.

"It becomes very difficult to understand how you could put anything in place that would be meaningful and be able to be policed, in terms of the club's intentions for the future or the owner's intentions for the club in the future."