Plastic pitches are no excuse, says Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha ahead of Kilmarnock trip

PEDRO CAIXINHA insists there will be no excuses should Rangers slip up on the plastic of Rugby Park on Wednesday night.

The new manager’s predecessor, Mark Warburton, was a fierce critic of artificial surfaces.

The Portuguese, though, takes an opposite view insisting players need to be ready to play on whatever is put in front of them.

“It’s a different surface. But if FIFA gives you the licence to play it, and the surface is evolving, it means it’s almost the same as playing on grass,” he said.

“In Qatar, all the pitches were natural grass and in Mexico one club, Tijuana, was artificial.

“I’m not going to push players to work here on our artificial surfaces indoor or outside to prepare for the game on Wednesday. They know how to deal with it.

“There is a warm-up area to get that adaptation. You need to adapt, especially about the speed of the ball when it hits the ground, the height of the rebound. But all the rest should be okay.

“As a goalkeeper you just need to know about the rebounds.

“In international football the away teams gets one session in the stadium.

“We don’t have that time – we have the warm-up and we have to adapt for that.

“But if we lose at Rugby Park there will be no excuses.

“The weather is different in Scotland but when we were kids we would put down two stones and play five goals, then change ends, and it ends at ten and that was on the street.

“We need to be ready to play on all surfaces and adapt in all weather conditions.”

Caixinha believes flu victim Lee Hodson could be okay to return but the condition of injury victims Lee Wallace and Clint Hill, both of whom were also substituted at half-time in the 1-1 draw with Motherwell on Saturday, will be assessed over the next couple of days.

The same also applies to Danny Wilson who missed the game with a strain.