MICHAEL Beale tonight expressed his concern at the state of the Hampden pitch in Rangers’ win over Aberdeen in the Viaplay Cup semi-final and stated that Scottish football must sell itself better.
The Englishman also admitted that he fears the poor playing surface at the national stadium could result in his players picking up injuries.
He was delighted when the Ibrox club fought back to book a final date with their Glasgow rivals Celtic next month after falling behind to a Bojan Miovski goal just before half-time.
Ryan Jack levelled the last four encounter when he netted a deflected equaliser in the second-half and substitute Kemar Roofe scored the winner in the first period of extra-time.
However, Beale confessed that he was disappointed at the condition of the Hampden pitch and urged the SFA to do everything they can to sort it out in time for the final on February 26.
“It’s probably not the right time to talk about it now, but you’ve asked the question,” he said. “Listen, it’s a fantastic stadium and I love coming here to be involved and coming to watch. I think it’s a wonderful stadium.
“But the pitch is in a really bad state for what is a showpiece game that players are dreaming of and hoping to get to. We need to have better than that. I think we have a good product and we have to make sure we present it in the right way.”
Beale added: “I know we can’t control the weather. But that was a difficult pitch today and that could take its toll.
“We have a game on Wednesday night. Will the injuries come from playing on a heavy pitch? We have heavy legs and go again on Wednesday and again next weekend in the cup.”
VAR also broke down for five minutes during the game – but Beale revealed that he and his opposite number Jim Goodwin had been keen for play to continue.
“We knew the VAR was failing or kept failing,” he said. “To be fair to me and Jim, we wanted to play the game without it. We’ve only had it a short period of time, so if VAR fails they should just continue with the game. I thought the officials had a good game today.”
Roofe came off with a shoulder injury after scoring the winner, but Beale expressed hope the Jamaican internationalist will not be out for long.
“Kemar can’t catch a break,” he said. “He comes on and gets the winner then goes off injured. We’ll have an x-ray on that tomorrow, but he’s not dislocated it so we’re hoping it is just a bad landing and a sore one.”
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