Cox warns Irish must get to grips with plastic

REPUBLIC of Ireland striker Simon Cox admits that Giovanni Trapattoni’s side will have to adapt quickly to the Luzhniki Stadium’s artificial surface tomorrow evening.

England and Aston Villa have lost on the ‘Field Turf’ surface in the past and, although Martin O’Neill was heavily critical of it afterwards, Alex Ferguson had no such issues before and after Manchester United won there against CSKA Moscow.

Clubs like QPR, Luton Town and Oldham Athletic were pioneers in the use of artificial grass in football in the 1980s but the professional English game has been played exclusively on the real stuff since the early 1990s.