Players complained the pitch was moving beneath their standing feet

Millennium Stadium general manager Gerry Toms has admitted "some shortcomings" over the condition of the pitch and complaints from footballers.

Wales players and staff complained it was soft and sandy, and moved under foot during Wales' 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Liechtenstein.

Captain Craig Bellamy said: "It's a rugby pitch, they don't look after us at all here."

But Toms said Bellamy's remark was offensive to staff.

"At the Millennium Stadium we host many events, football, rugby league, rugby union, and we treat our guests with similar respect, so I think the staff here are a bit offended by that remark," he said.

"We take umbrage at it."

It was not only Bellamy who criticised the pitch.

Midfielder Simon Davies said it was too soft, with defender Chris Gunter saying it was "disappointing".

"It looked ok," Gunter added, "but...there was so much sand and it was so soft that every time you went to kick across the ball it felt like your standing leg would go."

Wales' assistant coach Roy Evans said the newly-laid pitch was a "poor surface to play on".

And goalkeeping coach Paul Jones added: "There's not a lot of roots to the grass so any striking of the ball whether it be the keeper's goal kicks and obviously the lads shooting at goal, the standing foot just moves, the ground breaks up."

The stadium is owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and Toms admitted there had been problems.

"As far as the pitch is concerned we do accept that Saturday's pitch did have some shortcomings and this was first of all evident when the Welsh team trained here on Thursday," said Toms.

"On Friday morning we brought some pitch consultants in to have a look at it.

"We think we know what the problem may be but we're just waiting for their report.

"As soon as we get that report we'll be putting the measures in place to correct it."

He added they thought there could be a number of issues.

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Former Millennium Stadium executive and ex-Wales rugby international Rupert Moon told the BBC it was primarily a rugby stadium and would never be a Premiership-standard pitch.

"It's a temporary surface...unless they make it a permanent pitch it's never going to be any different," Moon said.

Last month, Wales manager John Toshack was left angry before the opening World Cup game against Azerbaijan as the removal of the portable pitch for a Madonna concert at the stadium.

He claimed it left the playing surface bare in the week of the game, disrupting training plans.

At the start of the qualifying campaign, Toshack had asked the Football Association of Wales to consider moving games to smaller venues around Wales to generate more atmosphere.

Wrexham's Racecourse ground, Cardiff's Ninian Park and Swansea's Liberty Stadium were the touted alternatives, the latter the largest at 20,000 capacity.

Saturday's game attracted just 12,500 supporters at the 74,500-seater Millennium Stadium.

The FAW are understood to have a 25-year deal for the use of the Millennium Stadium, but this does not tie them exclusively into playing every game there.

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