Hampden Park pitch "looking excellent", says Peter Dallas

Hampden Park officials have moved to allay fears about the state of the pitch ahead of this weekend's Scottish Cup semi-finals.

The playing surface at Scotland's national stadium has been relaid since last Sunday's Petrofac Training Cup final but Peter Dallas, managing director of Hampden Park Ltd, believes it will cope with Saturday's match between Hibernian and Dundee United and the Celtic and Rangers showdown on Sunday.

Dallas told Sky Sports News HQ on Thursday: "The pitch is looking excellent. We are very pleased with the installation. The installation was completed on Tuesday night at 8pm. The process started on Sunday immediately after the Petrofac Cup final.

"It's been well documented that there were certain areas where the grass was not developing as well as we expected. We had professional analysis taken on the pitch and therefore we had a decision to make.

"The overriding factors were that the pitch may have developed over the next few weeks or so, however there was a chance that the pitch may go backwards and might regress."

To watch the interview, visit www.skysports.com.