Wycombe Wanderers manager Gareth Ainsworth has bemoaned the lack of uniformity across pitches in League Two.

With Rodney Parade hosting rugby teams Newport RFC and Newport Gwent Dragons as well as Newport County, the Exiles’ pitch which Wycombe played on on Saturday was in a dire state.

Large areas of the turf had largely been replaced by sand, and while Ainsworth accepted fixtures need to be fulfilled, he questioned whether enough was being done to ensure pitches were well maintained.

“It is tough and the FA keep going on about new pitches and artificial pitches. They are trying to get a standardisation of pitches and we haven’t got a standardisation of a League Two pitch at the moment,” Ainsworth said.

“It was a horrible pitch and we didn’t get the ball down at all in the first half and tried to bypass the surface by going long.”

The prospect of playing on a poor surface was more of a concern for Ainsworth considering the small size of his squad.

His heart would therefore have been in his mouth when new signing Rowan Liburd went down holding his knee after getting his foot stuck in the loose surface.

The 23-year-old was brought in as cover for the injured Paris Cowan-Hall who is out for the season with an ankle problem.

The burly front man recovered to play on from the first half scare and shed light on what looked like an innocuous off the ball incident.

Liburd said: “My leg just got stuck in the sand, and gave in a little bit, but I managed to play through it. The knee will alright, I just need to ice it, settle it down and then go again.”

Ainsworth added: “Rowan got stuck in the sand and it is dangerous in that area, very sandy. He said his knee gave way because the sand gave way under his leg as he kicked the ball, and I was a little bit worried.”