Usually accustomed to the pristine grass pitches of the Premier League, the plastic pitch at Silkeborg IF presented a different challenge for West Ham United players in their UEFA Europa Conference League encounter last October.
The Danish side are one of the few teams in Europe who play on an artificial surface and the Irons had to quickly adapt to the change under foot to overcome their opponents in Denmark.
“It was a totally new experience for a lot of the players to play on a plastic pitch” explained Aaron Cresswell, speaking as part of ‘Massive | The story of West Ham United’s 2022/23 UEFA Europa Conference League triumph’.
“I remember on the night the ball moved really fast. The passing stats for both teams night were really high because of the pitch”.
Silkeborg were quick to take advantage of their familiar home turf and made life difficult for David Moyes’ men in the early stages.
Jarrod Bowen recalled: “I remember in the game they caused us a lot of problems because it’s their home and they’re used to the way they play on it, they zip the ball around a lot.”
Despite going a goal down early on, the Hammers recovered to secure a hard-fought victory in Denmark with goals from Manual Lanzini, Gianluca Scamacca and Craig Dawson.
“I think it just goes to show that you’ve got to be different sometimes in European ties. There are different cultures and philosophies and I think different pitches come in to that as well.
“It’s about adapting pretty to what’s around you and I think we did that and managed to win the game”.
