STEVEN GERRARD insists there is 'nothing for Motherwell to be ashamed of' after revealing the Steelmen flagged up the condition of the Fir Park pitch ahead of their clash with Rangers.
The Light Blues were held to a 1-1 draw in Lanarkshire on Sunday as Cedric Itten's header cancelled out a strike from Devante Cole to maintain their unbeaten run in the Premiership.
Boss Gerrard refused to blame the state of the surface for the performance from his side on a rare off day and appreciated the heads-up from the Fir Park outfit after a prolonged period of bad weather took its toll on the park.
Gerrard said: “We had an email off Motherwell to be fair a few days ago talking about the standard of the pitch but we knew that at this stage of the season you’re not going to get perfect pitches.
"Ibrox isn’t perfect at the moment. It is what it is.
"We have to be ready for these type of environments and these pitches and we have to get on with it and do what we can. I don’t think the pitch was to blame for our first 45 minutes because you can’t blame a pitch for being passive and having no quality.
"In an ideal world we want to play on a perfect pitch but at this stage it’s not going to be case but there’s no fingers pointed at Motherwell because given the weather and the conditions and the country we play in, it is what it is.
“It was just to give us an early indication about the pitch and that if the weather turned we could have an issue, and also to say Motherwell had had to use it and it was not in the usual condition. It’s normally a fantastic pitch here.
"It was heads-up that if we had a period of weather that was bad the game could be 50-50.
"Thankfully the game went ahead but we appreciated the heads up but it’s nothing for Motherwell to be ashamed of because you see all the pitches, you saw Hibs’ pitch on Sportscene, Celtic Park, Ibrox, I think a lot of people are having issues with pitches because of the weather we’ve had and this stage of the season.”
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