Sydney: Pakistan's hockey manager Islahuddin Siddiqui slammed the newly-laid Olympic hockey pitch on Tuesday, saying the uneven surface could create major problems.``There are patches on the synthetic pitch where the ball wobbles,'' Islahuddin said, adding other teams had also voiced similar concerns. ``I had spoken to Ric Charlesworth (the Australian women's coach) a few days back and he agreed with me the pitch was not perfect.``I believe the Dutch and German coaches too had protested. But it's too late now. We will have to adjust our game accordingly,'' he said.The suspect patch is near the 15-yard circle at one end, very close to where penalty corners are hit. The surface at the other hand, is however, smooth and even.Winning the toss, normally a formality in hockey, could play a pivotal role since teams will want to have the choice of ends for the first half.Teams relying on field goals will prefer to attack at the rough end. Penalty corner specialists, like Pakistan's Sohail Abbas, would want to shoot from the other side.The International Hockey Federation (FIH) had given the thumbs-up to the Australian-made artificial turf last year soon after a Four-Nation pre-Olympic tournament between India, Germany, South Africa and Australia.
