PARS boss John Hughes believes his team dominated their Championship play-off semi-final, first leg, in spite of a pitch "you shouldn't be playing on".

Having finished ninth in the second tier, Dunfermline travelled to Queen's Park, who were fourth in League One, for the first match in their battle to preserve their place in the division last night (Wednesday).

In a 90 minutes that was far from a classic, they emerged with a scoreless draw, with a Kevin O'Hara shot in the second half that home keeper, Calum Ferrie, saved the best opportunity the created in a game of very few chances.

READ MORE: Pars draw a blank against the Spiders in play-off crunch

On what was, admittedly, a difficult surface at Firhill - the Spiders have been groundsharing this season with Partick Thistle ahead of moving in to their new home at Lesser Hampden - the visitors struggled to create in front of goal, which drew frustration throughout from their sizeable support in the crowd of 1,403.

Hughes, however, felt his men had the better of proceedings, and when asked how difficult the pitch was for the players, he commented: "I'm not having a go at anything in terms of Partick Thistle. I know what Scottish football's all about in terms of income and all that stuff.

"Sometimes you're living off the scraps of the table, I get all that, in Scottish football, but that's a play-off game and you shouldn't be playing on that surface. It's as simple as that.

"We're looking for the brand of Scottish football. You're meant to be entertained - you ask a snooker player to go and play and snooker but, before you do it, put the biscuits down on the snooker table. It's no different from football.

"But, it is what is. We had to get any on with. As I say, I'm not having a go at Partick Thistle or anything like that, I'm having more of a go at the powers that be that it's a brand we're trying to produce in Scottish football, and we should've been playing on a better surface, that's for sure.

"I think we dominated the game without creating too many chances. I think Kevin had one in the second half, but I can't remember Jakub having too much to do. I think that's down to the pitch, the surface of the pitch.

"I felt we dominated the game. Everything that I asked, in terms of that we kept a clean sheet, effort, commitment.

"Obviously you're disappointed that you've not won the match, but we've not lost it, we're still in there battling away.

"It's only half-time. What we need to do is recover and get the guys ready to go on Saturday."

When asked if 0-0 was a decent result, given the conditions, Hughes added: "It probably is.

"It was never going to be a high-scoring game. It's not slick enough, the pitch. I'm not blaming the pitch; it is what it is. You have adjust and adapt, it's the same for both sides, and you get on with it.

"I think we adapted very very well. We came here two weeks ago against Partick Thistle and we came with a whole different style, and it was a terrible game. It was a horrible, horrible game.

"At least tonight I felt we got on the ball, passed it and tried to pass it, and I think we dominated most of the game."

Former Pars player, coach and manager, John Potter, is part of Queen's Park's coaching team and he was full of praise for their efforts.

Although he acknowledged that his former club will be strong favourites for Saturday's second leg, he doesn't think they have anything to fear.

"It was going to be a difficult game. Dunfermline have got good players, they keep the ball and they try and hurt you going forward but, in the main, I thought we defended really well as a team," he said.

"We had one or two opportunities going forward, and we'd have liked to have done a little bit more doing that, but defensively, I thought we were strong and limited Dunfermline to few chances.

"I genuinely thought we were the ones pushing towards the end to try and win the game. The game's difficult; you're going to have to defend for long periods, but we did that well. I thought we matched Dunfermline and, at times, we were the better.

"It'll be difficult going into Saturday. Dunfermline will be big favourites but, hopefully tonight showed that we can match, and hopefully win the game.

"The pitch will be better. Dunfermline will have a big crowd to support but we've got nothing to fear. I think we've got good footballers as well and we can play on a better pitch.

"Hopefully we can show that on Saturday."

When asked about the pitch, and whether it hindered his team as much as their opponents, Potter replied: "It does at times yeah. This is it getting better believe it or not!

"It does because we've got good footballers and a lot of their good performances in our league have been on better pitches.

"It affects our players as well. It's not terrible, it's not a great pitch, but there were still moments that both teams passed the ball. But, as I said, Saturday will be a better pitch hopefully.

"It's just important the next couple of days that we're rested, ready to go, and hopefully have another one or two players back. We still missed a couple of players and hopefully we'll get them back for Saturday.

"I thought or squad was important tonight, the subs that came on made an impact, and we'll be ready to go on Saturday."