ALLOA manager Brian Rice rued the "horrendous" pitch at Firhill as his side battled to a draw against Queen's Park on Saturday.

The Wasps travelled to Maryhill and took the lead through Mark Durnan before a Ronan Darcy strike evened the score and ensured both teams took a point.

Rice, speaking exclusively to Advertiser Sport, said: "It was a good point. Let’s not kid ourselves on: the surface was horrendous.

"The style we had to play on Saturday was completely opposite to how I want to play but we picked the team accordingly to deal with it and it’s took a wonder strike for us not to win the match but we still come away with a really good point."

Rice, who was in attendance for Alloa's victory over Dumbarton last month on another poor surface, continued: "In my time, when we played, the pitches were like that, but we’ve moved on since then.

"It’s two clubs that are ground sharing; Dumbarton are sharing with Rangers B and Partick Thistle’s doing the same with Queen’s Park. It doesn’t work in Scotland, in my opinion, there’s too much use.

"The surface is everything, it’s everything to do with the style of play you want to play and for tactics, too.

"That pitch is a long-ball pitch because you can’t take chances, the ball could bobble any minute or players could lose their footing so great credit to my boys, absolutely great credit to my boys for the way they dug in there and like I say it took a wonder strike for us to settle for a point."

There were changes to the team, with Rice going for a more physical approach, and the gaffer admitted it was a reflection on the pitch.

"I spoke to the boys at length on Thursday night about what we were going to be playing on," Rice continued.

"[I] got it out the way so there was no excuses, we knew exactly what we wanted and we changed the team accordingly. The pitch played a massive, massive part in the team."

Rice's first three games – against three of the top four – has resulted in two points from nine.

He continued: "I’m delighted with everything about the boys: the training, the effort, everything.

"I’ve come in and changed the style to the way I want to play and the boys have bought into it.

"We’ve played three of the top four teams and there’s been absolutely nothing in the games.

"They all could have went either way; I’m absolutely delighted with them, but the most important thing is the next game."

Despite Darcy's wonder goal, the hosts gained possession with the Wasps giving it up needlessly, but Rice insisted there was no blame.

He continued: "If you look at any goal the other team’s lost possession. I’m going to take nothing away from the boy, he’s scored a fantastic strike.

"If we scored that goal we’d all be raving about it, we wouldn’t be talking about Queen’s Park losing possession.

"Of course it’s disappointing to lose a goal but there’s some goals you can do nothing about.

"I’m not pointing the finger at anyone, we all make mistakes. We win together and we lose together, it’s very much together. That’s how I approach every game with my boys."

Alloa's next four games are massive, playing the three teams below them before hosting Clyde, who sit above them, but Rice isn't losing focus on what's most important.

He said: "That’s not my mindset to talk about the next three or four games, I don’t do it and I try to express that to the lads.

"I don’t look further ahead than the next game, I don’t talk about groups of games. For me that’s the most important thing, I try not to focus on anything else.

"It’s important we don’t lose the game [against Peterhead]. Of course we’ll try and win the game, my teams always go to try and win the game. Always.

"I’ll look for a level of performance [similar to what] we’ve had, I’ll look for a clean sheet and if we have that we’ll win the match."