The playing surface at Rochdale’s Spotland ground has been heavily criticised ahead of the club’s FA Cup Fourth Round replay with Millwall this evening.
The Dale have battled to get the match on and a spell of bad weather has left the playing surface looking more like a greyhound track than a football pitch.
The Sky Bet League One strugglers drew 2-2 in their initial Fourth Round tie with Millwall at The New Den 10 days ago and a replay will now take place to determine which side will host either Newport County or Tottenham Hotspur at home in the next round.
Rochdale last played a home game almost a month ago with the club having since been frustrated by postponements as a result of a waterlogged playing surface. Ground staff have been working hard to get the FA Cup replay with Millwall on and while their efforts have been successful, fans and media pundits have taken to Twitter to criticise the mess which the pitch is currently in.
The pitch is mostly sand @talkSPORTDrive on the near side pic.twitter.com/oecmE9tWpC
— Ian Abrahams (Moose) (@BroadcastMoose) February 6, 2018
Rochdale’s pitch at Spotland looks a state. pic.twitter.com/zoCVrIHj4M
— David Anderson (@MirrorAnderson) February 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/JamesRhodes01/status/960949584297168897
Might as well forget football and challenge Rochdale to a ploughing match #FACup pic.twitter.com/S76dmrU4GV
— ian cleverly (@iancleverly) February 6, 2018
Should Rochdale cause an upset and dump Millwall out of the FA Cup, it will be interesting to see what the top stars of Tottenham Hotspur would make of the Spotland surface. Other potential opponents Newport County are no strangers to mud and sand with their Rodney Parade surface having had its own issues in recent seasons prior to improvements made last summer.
