Life's a pitch for irate Pressley

05 March 2010 15:24
Celtic are understood to have sparked the inspection by raising concerns to the SPL over the surface, which was host to Scotland Under-21s in their 2-2 draw with Azerbaijan on Tuesday.[LNB]The SPL sent independent expert Bill Gillespie to the Falkirk Stadium on Thursday where the pitch was passed fit for Sunday's game.[LNB]Pressley said: "I believe they were very happy with the standard of the pitch and so are we.[LNB]"It infuriates me to be perfectly honest because I've seen groundsman Jim Dawson working on that pitch until 12 o'clock at night.[LNB]"He has been groundsman of the year in the SPL for two out of the last three years and he's been voted third in the UK.[LNB]"We've all had to endure a difficult winter and we all don't have the finances of Celtic and Rangers to change certain aspects of our pitch.[LNB]"But the pitch is great, I watched the Under-21 game on Tuesday and it was absolutely fine.[LNB]"If it was suitable for an international game, it will be suitable for the game this Sunday."[LNB]The SPL's intervention follows their warning to Motherwell last week over the state of the "inadequate" Fir Park pitch, which hosted Kilmarnock days later following remedial work.[LNB]Other pitches have suffered amid Scotland's worst winter for 30 years while Hibernian striker Derek Riordan has warned that the Easter Road pitch could cost his team a place in Europe.[LNB]Pressley added: "This winter has been one of the worst for some time and especially in terms of the frost. We've hardly been on our training pitch for the last three months.[LNB]"In order to get games on you have to have undersoil heating on, which has an adverse effect on the grass.[LNB]"You can't have it both ways, getting the games on and also having your pitch in perfect condition.[LNB]"That's a fact of life but, when you take into account what we have had to endure, our pitch is in great condition."[LNB]An SPL spokesman said: "We keep an eye on all our pitches and monitor them over the course of the season.[LNB]"The weather has had an impact on pitches up and down the country but, as things stand, all our games are good to go this weekend."[LNB][LNB] Celtic 4/11, Draw 10/3, Falkirk 7/1  

Source: Team_Talk