ALLOA Athletic welcomed a special guest to the Indodrill Stadium on Thursday night as Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, helped them officially unveil their new pitch.

Wasps chairman Mike Mulraney invited the local member of parliament to join him along with pitch manufacturers, Gordon Thompson of All Sports and Martin Laidler of Trocellen Shock Pads, to declare the pitch open for public use again after the installation of the new high-tech artificial surface. 

Ms Ahmed-Sheikh was given the honour of scoring the first goal on the new surface from the penalty spot and even donned the famous Black and Gold shirt to pose with the players and the manager. 

The club chairman admits he was thrilled to have the backing of their local MP and hopes the new pitch can bring his side some better luck for the coming season.

Mulraney told the Advertiser: “We are delighted to now be the proud owners of the best surface in the country. We looked at the best around and that was the one at Falkirk FC, but this new surface is even a few years more technologically advanced than that one now so we are pleased with it.

"We have always been proud of our home facilities, but this new surface will hopefully result in a few less adverse comments. People have had their opinions on our pitch in the past, but hopefully they will complain about it this year simply because they are getting beat on it.

“It is great for us and the team to have the best surface in Scotland here at the Indodrill. It is a different weave, the surface technology has moved forward enormously in the eight years since our last pitch was laid. The shock pad is incredible as well and vastly improves the overall feel of the surface so we couldn’t be anymore pleased with it. 

“I hope this new surface will help our guys to express themselves in games and we fully anticipate that being the case, so hopefully it results in a great season.

"It is important to remember that the pitch is also a vital community asset and we host a lot of community level football for boys and girls here. We try to embrace our whole community here at the football club and so having Tasmina here to open the pitch was vitally important because she represents us in parliament. We really appreciate her coming along and taking time out of her hectic schedule.”

Mulraney is delighted to see manager Jack Ross move quickly to have his entire playing squad tied up so early into the pre-season period and he hopes it will be a boost to their promotion hopes for the campaign ahead. 

He added: “We are thrilled to have our whole squad in place at this early point in the season and they are already training together, bonding and planning for the season ahead. Jack and I set out to have our business done as early as we could this summer and I couldn’t have asked for anymore in terms of what he has achieved. 

“The board has done everything they possibly could to ensure we signed the best possible squad that we could and you can see the proof in the pudding with the signings we have made so hopefully that translates into wins on the football park.

"We aim to be in the top four and if we can achieve that then we know it gives us a chance of being in the promotion shake up next May.”