A NEW synthetic football surface at Queen Anne High School has been compared favourably to that used by Dutch aces Ajax.

The state-of-the-art 3G pitch was installed during the recent summer holidays and one of the first matches played on it involved the Fife Elite Football Academy under-17 side and their counterparts from Celtic.

The youth coaching staff from the Scottish champions included club legend George McLuskey and they taken by the Queen Anne pitch, saying it was similar to one they had just played on in Amsterdam.

Scott Fenton, Fife Council head of community use for Dunfermline, said, "The Celtic guys were very impressed by the surface. I was speaking to one of their coaches and he was saying it was just like the pitch they had played on against Ajax.

"The pitch is a huge improvement on the previous which was basically an old sand-based astroturf.

"Everybody has been full of praise for the new playing surface."

As well as Celtic, other visiting sides have included Inverness CT, St Mirren, Rangers and Montrose. Local sides such as Elgin Star, Dunfermline Athletic Girls, Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts, Rosebank Thistle and Lauders have all acted quickly to book their time slots for matches and winter training.

The 3G surface has also been a big hit with Queen Anne pupils and as well as football the pitch is also used for hockey and rugby. There are still a few slots available to be snapped up on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday evenings as well as Saturday morning / afternoon. The pitch can be booked as a whole, in halves or in thirds.

Contact Scott Fenton on 602351 for further details.