The Pitch

[Nakedmanoncrack]

Not an excuse for the deserved defeat, but how bad is that artificial park?
Absolutely awful, impossible to get a decent game on that.

[AugustaHibs]

We’d have been beaten on the nou camp pitch by them today.

[Carheenlea]

Have yet to see a quality game of football on an artificial pitch, today’s stinker can be added to that. Not conducive to good football at all and makes a fool of the players.

[SmashinGlass]

I’d commented to the boys round me that I looked like they were playing in glue. Horrible surface. Ball stuck to it. Livi should be made to tear it up and install grass again.

[brianmc]

With the exception of the clouds of rubber pellets every time the ball bounced I thought the pitch was fine.
Much better than Hamilton's or kilmarnock's.

It's an embarrassing level of clutching at straws to even mention the pitch in relation to that piss poor performance from Hibs.

Mind you, with the number of 50 yard diagonal punts in the general direction of midgets Maclaren and Boyle I'm not sure how the surface was even noticed.

[calumhibee1]

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With the exception of the clouds of rubber pellets every time the ball bounced I thought the pitch was fine.
Much better than Hamilton's or kilmarnock's.

It's an embarrassing level of clutching at straws to even mention the pitch in relation to that piss poor performance from Hibs.

Mind you, with the number of 50 yard diagonal punts in the general direction of midgets Maclaren and Boyle I'm not sure how the surface was even noticed.

Likewise. The pitch isn’t pretty on the eye but there was nothing wrong with the way it played today.

[Sir David Gray]

Shocking surface, one of the worst I've ever seen.

Not an excuse for the defeat but games shouldn't be allowed to be played on that.

Utter embarrassment.

[MWHIBBIES]

Disgrace. Wouldn't wipe my shoes on it. Livi training on it all week is a significant advantage. It's just embarrassing for a top league.

[NAE NOOKIE]

I watched most of the Livvi v Motherwell match that was played on it a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was dreadful, with Motherwell players constantly under hitting passes played on the deck due to what is clearly a sticky surface and with the ball bouncing nothing like it does on grass, as with all pitches like this if it comes down at 30 degrees it seems to bounce up at 45 …… I've watched a number of games at Gala Fairydean Rovers who have a very similar pitch and the ball does exactly the same, its also a pitch heavily saturated in rubber pellets. Being used to these conditions as a result of training in them all week must be an advantage to Livvi. Not enough of an advantage I hasten to add that we can or should use it as an excuse for losing to them.

That aside IMO there is no place for artificial surfaces in top flight professional football … we are not north of the bloody arctic circle, grass grows just fine in this country and for so long as it does that's what we should be playing on. If a so called top flight club cant afford the most fundamental requirement you can think of, that being to shoulder the burden of maintaining an acceptable grass pitch they shouldn't be a top flight club in the first place.

I think if Hibs ever installed one I would be down at ER in the middle of the night with a can of petrol and a box of matches … get bloody rid of the sodding things !!!

[bingo70]

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With the exception of the clouds of rubber pellets every time the ball bounced I thought the pitch was fine.
Much better than Hamilton's or kilmarnock's.

It's an embarrassing level of clutching at straws to even mention the pitch in relation to that piss poor performance from Hibs.

Mind you, with the number of 50 yard diagonal punts in the general direction of midgets Maclaren and Boyle I'm not sure how the surface was even noticed.

I never saw the game today so I can’t comment on how it influenced the game. I was speaking to a Jambo earlier though who was moaning about his trip to Killie last week despite their win. He was asking the question, has anyone anywhere ever seen a good game on one of these astro pitches?

It’s a fair point imo, without seeing the game today it’s normally just two teams trying to adjust and find out who can find their feet and find a way to play that works.

[GreenCastle]

Livi don’t own pitch - community foundation paid / managed to get it funded.

So Livi money can go elsewhere (playing squad).

[greenlex]

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Likewise. The pitch isn’t pretty on the eye but there was nothing wrong with the way it played today.

Horgan twice got the ball stuck under his feet driving forward. Our passing wasn’t as crisp either as the ball stuck on it. Couple of strange bounces first half from over the top balls. I think the pitch played awfully and will be worth a few points to Livingston over the season.

[matty_f]

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With the exception of the clouds of rubber pellets every time the ball bounced I thought the pitch was fine.
Much better than Hamilton's or kilmarnock's.

It's an embarrassing level of clutching at straws to even mention the pitch in relation to that piss poor performance from Hibs.

Mind you, with the number of 50 yard diagonal punts in the general direction of midgets Maclaren and Boyle I'm not sure how the surface was even noticed.

How is it an embarrassing level of straw clutching if the opening post specifically says that it's not an excuse?

[davhibby]

I actually normally don't mind the artificial pitches if they're good. For example Falkirk's pitch which I think is a good surface. This Livi pitch is a toss up with Alloa's old pitch they had when we played them in the championship as the worst I've seen Hibs play on. It's not even comparable to Kilmarnock or Hamilton. Schools have better pitches than this Livi one

[Ryan91]

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Horgan twice got the ball stuck under his feet driving forward. Our passing wasn’t as crisp either as the ball stuck on it. Couple of strange bounces first half from over the top balls. I think the pitch played awfully and will be worth a few points to Livingston over the season.

A guy in front of me today pointed out that if you look closely, the ball doesn't properly roll on the artificial surface, it tends to skid/bounce when played along the deck.

These artificial pitches are a distinct competitive advantage for the home team when the opponent plays on grass.

The pitch looked completely saturated with rubber pellets today, definitely made the ball look like it was being slowed up or getting a bit stuck.

It's pretty shocking that a quarter of pitches in the top flight of Scottish Football are artificial.

[Nakedmanoncrack]

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I actually normally don't mind the artificial pitches if they're good. For example Falkirk's pitch which I think is a good surface. This Livi pitch is a toss up with Alloa's old pitch they had when we played them in the championship as the worst I've seen Hibs play on. It's not even comparable to Kilmarnock or Hamilton. Schools have better pitches than this Livi one

[Brizo]

I had the misfortune to be through at the Pelletdome today. First we were totally gash and I don't believe we would have beaten them if we'd been playing them on a bowling green type surface. However the Livi pitch is beyond bad. Showers of rubber pellets flew up every time a player kicked the ball, It also got seemed to get caught in the surface on occasions and took some strange bounces.

No excuses for todays woeful performance but if our authorities want to market our top flight as entertainment they need to make sure all our top flight teams play on grass or at least a truer type of artificial surface.

[brianmc]

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How is it an embarrassing level of straw clutching if the opening post specifically says that it's not an excuse?

To paraphrase, anyone who starts off by saying: I'm not making excuses BUT....
most likely is

*Do you think we played crap, had the wrong formation and starting 11 , then compounded it by making terrible use of our subs all because of some astro turf??

[greenlex]

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To paraphrase, anyone who starts off by saying: I'm not making excuses BUT....
most likely is

*Do you think we played crap, had the wrong formation and starting 11 , then compounded it by making terrible use of our subs all because of some astro turf??

Would it have been better if he had started with slating the pitch first before saying we were worthy of our defeat?

[whiskyhibby]

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We’d have been beaten on the nou camp pitch by them today.

[whiskyhibby]

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We’d have been beaten on the nou camp pitch by them today.

Not quite sure show you come to that conclusion....

[Itsnoteasy]

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Disgrace. Wouldn't wipe my shoes on it. Livi training on it all week is a significant advantage. It's just embarrassing for a top league.

They'll obviously train on it all week.
It's their home ground.
Not got super facilities like Hibs.

[Jones28]

We now have three artificial pitches in the top flight, the pitch being awful can no longer be an excuse. We just have to get on with the job. We've got two artificial surfaces at East Mains so we should be able to factor this in.

[bingo70]

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We now have three artificial pitches in the top flight, the pitch being awful can no longer be an excuse. We just have to get on with the job. We've got two artificial surfaces at East Mains so we should be able to factor this in.

It’s an interesting point.

When we build the indoor facility at East Mains will it have the same type of pitch as Livi had today? Wonder if having that facility could have a better immediate impact than I thought.

Apologies if that’s a daft question however I’m assuming outdoor 4g surfaces are the same as indoor ones?

[Greenworld]

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They'll obviously train on it all week.
It's their home ground.
Not got super facilities like Hibs.

That pitch was only laid three weeks ago . These types of pitches take a long time to bed in.
At the moment the pitch is very slow and glue like.
Livingston will do well at home as it suits there style punt it over the top the ball will stop on this pitch and they then push up.
We unfortunately had two players who did not play well today in vital positions whittaker and Porteous.
Kilmarnock are going back to grass at the end of this season .
There is movement to get rid of these pitches altogether from the premier league

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[fiolex1]

The pitch wasn’t great, but is was poor defending that cost us

[Brightside]

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Not an excuse for the deserved defeat, but how bad is that artificial park?
Absolutely awful, impossible to get a decent game on that.

I’m playing on it next weekend. I’ll let you know after that.

[PatHead]

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That pitch was only laid three weeks ago . These types of pitches take a long time to bed in.
At the moment the pitch is very slow and glue like.
Livingston will do well at home as it suits there style punt it over the top the ball will stop on this pitch and they then push up.
We unfortunately had two players who did not play well today in vital positions whittaker and Porteous.
Kilmarnock are going back to grass at the end of this season .
There is movement to get rid of these pitches altogether from the premier league

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Killie are replacing their pitch at the end of the season however they have not decided if it will be artificial or grass.

[Radium]

Think it has been narrowed as well



Towards the edge but is heavily pelleted and seems a bit sparse in terms of the fake grass.

All based on a couple of photos and someone with little knowledge of how these surfaces work


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[I'm Spartacus]

I thought the ball rolled really well BUT the quantity of pellets is unreal!!! I’m guessing the pellets are measured per Sqm??? As the game goes on the pellets must pile in uneven sections.