Artificial pitch could play to MK Dons' strengths

The 3G surface, Robbie Neilson believes, will remove the air of unpredictability that playing on non-league pitches usually brings.

And the manager feels it will play into Dons’ hands.

He said: “Sometimes, the difficulty is going somewhere where it’s blowing a gale and the pitch is terrible but at least we know we’re going to a good stadium with a good surface.

"We trained on one at Sport Central this week which is fantastic. It’ll be a good surface so we can play some football.”

Chuks Aneke though feels Hyde’s regular use of the pitch could give them an early advantage when the sides meet.

He added: “Obviously the surface will be different so we’ll have to wait and see.

“We’re used to playing on grass, we don’t play on the artificial pitch every week and they do so maybe they’ll have an advantage.

“But it’s football at the end of the day, the ball is still round!”