Tuesday 29 August 2017 15:52, UK
Gordon Strachan will insist his Scotland squad are allowed to train on Lithuania's artificial pitch in the same conditions that will be used for Friday's crucial World Cup Qualifier, live on Sky Sports Football.
The Scots head to the LFF Arena in Vilnius to play their first full international clash on such a surface, but Strachan knows from experience that an artificial pitch can behave in a different manner depending on how much moisture is applied.
He was in charge of Celtic in 2007 when they took on Spartak Moscow in a Champions League qualifier and remembers how the Hoops struggled when the dry plastic pitch they had trained on was soaked by the Russians before kick-off.
"We have known for a long, long time that we're going to be playing on a surface that we are not used to," he said.
"Some players have played on surfaces like the one we'll see on Friday, others haven't.
"But we will be working on a similar pitch and I don't think it will be too big a problem because we'll know what it's all about.
"We are going to ask to make sure that the training conditions are exactly the same as they will be during the game.
"I remember going away with Celtic to Spartak Moscow and we trained the night before the game on a dry surface. It was a dry surface again during the warm-up.
"But as soon as we went inside for our final preparations, the pitch got covered. They had fire engines and you name it to make sure we were sliding about for 20 minutes.
"So we want to make sure the training conditions are the same as the playing conditions.
"That's the only stipulation we have, the rest we're more than happy with."
Scotland go into the game fourth in World Cup European Group F Qualifying on eight points, six points behind leaders England.
Watch Lithuania v Scotland on Friday. Coverage begins on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event at 7pm.
