Ok, I'll say it.....

[jjaflup22]

The debate is more general than the odd result. Do you think astro pitches are OK at our level of football?

Zzzz... Can you no take a joke.

[TerryTheTerror]

Of course but I'm genuinely interested. Honestly, I haven't heard a single football fan that thinks they are a good idea at our level and above.

[PT_Arab]

Just pointing out that Ayr dismantled Alloa on the same pitch two weeks ago and had the BBC pundit at the game purring about the quality of football they were playing. They were 3-0 up after 20 minutes and it could have been 6-0. So my point is, it is definitely possible to play decent attacking football on that pitch, even if you're not used to playing on it.

The original poster said it wasn't an excuse for our performance on Friday night and I totally agree with that.

I know a number of players have been quoted as saying that they don't like artificial surfaces and they feel they are more likely to get an injury playing on it, so I would definitely prefer to see all games played on real grass.

One argument in favour of plastic pitches is that they are "all weather" so should lead to fewer games being called off, which I'm all for but given that we had a game at Plamerston postponed that is clearly not the case.

[TerryTheTerror]

The timing is unfortunate as it leads folk to think the OP is being made as an excuse for the piss-poor performance even though they went out of their way to say otherwise. But, I'd be interested to hear from anyone who thinks they should be allowed and why.

[jjaflup22]

Of course plastic pitches are sh1te but they're equally sh1te for everyone.

[TerryTheTerror]

Sort of. The home team plays on it more so they'll be more used to it. I'd actually be interested to see if statistics actually back up the suspicion that it creates an unfair advantage.

I'm not talking about Friday night BTW (there was no excuse for that), more generally.

[Yeats 62]

There was a survey done on injuries on these surfaces compared to grass, and surprisingly (to me) there was no significant difference.
If a player was known to have knee issues for example, then obviously they would have problems on those surfaces compared to others.

As for advantage, there has to be some if a team plays all their home games and trains on astro etc. Would be interesting to see stats on that.

Another side of the coin might also be, when these teams actually get to play on grass they enjoy it and raise their game. ( not sure on that one but might be the case.)

And as someone else pointed out , these "all weather " pitches are really not all weather pitches, there has been a few call-offs in the last few seasons or so due to snow or frost.

I can see why certain clubs use them but when watching any game on them there is always a sense of fear of a mistake in certain situations and that can't be good for the game.

[Jim_Jam]

Plastic pitches are good for the likes of Stenhousemuir because the whole community can get the use out of the facility and pay them for it.
However for top flight games they are artificial giving a huge advantage to a home side.
Look at Kilmarnock last year.
Also our Hamilton playoff game. Hamilton watered their attacking half at half time and not the half they were defending. The ball skighted over the surface for their winning goal cheating bar stewards.