McINNES BEMOANS PITTODRIE SURFACE

ABERDEEN boss Derek McInnes believes his side’s form is being affected by a poor pitch at Pittodrie.

The Dons’ last two home games have seen them beaten 2-0 by Celtic in the Premiership last weekend before being held 1-1 by Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup on Saturday.

Aberdeen took a ninthminute lead through Graeme Shinnie but Kris Boyd levelled midway through the second half from the penalty spot to set up a quarter-final replay.

McInnes bemoaned the Pittodrie pitch and said they deserve better.

He said: “It’s a difficult surface and I would even say that Kilmarnock’s flair players, the likes of Jordan Jones, struggled to run with the ball on it.

“It’s more for playing percentages, pragmatically. It’s the same for both teams but certainly we never had that spark.

“We shouldn’t accept the surface. We spent a lot of money on it in the summer, and I’m well aware of how hard our ground staff are working on it but we’re deserving of a better pitch.

“I need to balance that by saying it’s not the reason we’re not through to the s e m i - f i n a l s , bu t w e ’r e having to play a certain way, a way which doesn’t always suit our players.

“There’s no real speed in the pitch, the surface isn’t slick. It’s difficult. Players who would normally run with the ball are having to fully concentrate as they’re running rather than trying to execute the pass.”