Plastic pitches a no-brainer says Ferguson

Saturday’s postponed League 2 encounter away to Albion Rovers has been quickly rearranged for next Tuesday, March 1, and with another rescheduled fixture at Ayr the following midweek games will be coming thick and fast for the Warriors.

A trip to play league leaders Dunfermline in between the two midweek matches and a home match with Peterhead the Saturday after the Ayr game completes a hectic schedule.

The subject of plastic pitches has stimulated much debate in Scottish football recently, but Ferguson is in no doubt as to the value of his own club’s artificial facility at Ochilview.

He said: “I don’t think anyone would argue that a grass pitch on a good condition is the ideal surface to play on.

“But when you live in Scotland there are times when those circumstances are few and far between.

“In terms of viability and continuity a plastic pitch is a no brainer at our level as far as I am concerned.

“Obviously we have our own plastic pitch so we don’t have games called off unless it snows. It’s always disappointing when you prepare for a game and it gets called off because you look forward to it.

“But it’s just one of these things. By the time the game was called off on Saturday it was too late to arrange anything else in terms of training so the players had a weekend off.

“But we go again against Cowdenbeath this weekend and looking forward to it.”

Stenny have already played Cowdenbeath twice this season, winning 4-2 at home in August and staging one of their trademark comebacks to earn a 2-2 draw in Fife in October.

Cowdenbeath have made changes since then and Ferguson is expecting a tough game.

He said: “They have brought in better players but we will try to make sure we prepare properly and once again it’s an opportunity for us to improve our league position and get closer to our points target for the season.

“With the Albion Rovers game having been rearranged so quickly it hasn’t affected the order of our fixtures too much. We still face two games against sides round about us in the league.

“We then face the top three teams in the league so if we can get results against Cowdenbeath and Albion Rovers that can give us something to take into those matches, which I think we’re also capable of getting something out of.”

Alan Cook will miss the match, having been denied the chance to serve out his suspension against Albion Rovers.

Ferguson said: “Cookie has been an important player for us this season - although I’m hoping that after Saturday he has a job to get back in because of the performance.”