Sammy McIlroy has criticised the Bulgarian FA over the poor facilities they have provided for Northern Ireland in Sofia.
McIlroy is unhappy that his preparations for this afternoon's World Cup qualifier have been hampered by a sub-standard training pitch.
Instead of using the Levski stadium as planned, the Irish were sent to CSKA Sofia's dilapidated training ground, where the pitch was so hard and uneven that McIlroy was reluctant to do too much work for fear of his players picking up any injuries.
"The training pitch was very poor. It was like a cobbled strip it was that bad," said McIlroy.
His fears were nearly realised when Neil Lennon tweaked his ankle, while he dared not risk Michael Hughes.
Both will be fit as will Jim Magilton, who has finally overcome his hamstring injury.
Meanwhile, Scotland manager Craig Brown has admitted he will not hesitate to use the long-ball approach when they face San Marino at Hampden Park.
Brown says is prepared to throw bodies forward in the World Cup qualifier, knowing goal difference could be crucial at the end of the Group Six campaign.
Belgium recently defeated San Marino 10-1 and Brown said: "Sometimes you have to compromise and throw balls in and pounce on mistakes, rather than threading balls through."
Leicester's Matt Elliott is likely to play a crucial role against the World Cup minnows. As his defensive duties are expected to be negligible, he will link up with the attack.
Elsewhere, Mark Hughes believes Ryan Giggs can strike fear into Ukrainian hearts and rescue Wales' World Cup dreams.
The Wales manager knows that the Millennium Stadium battle of three world class forwards will be the key to this group five showdown as Giggs will take on the combined talents of AC Milan's Andrei Shevchenko and Spurs' Sergei Rebrov in Cardiff.
Of the pair Hughes says: "They are a world class partnership and they will be difficult to cope with.
"But having Ryan back is a major boost for us, he has been absolutely exceptional this season and if he gets anywhere near that level for us he will cause Ukraine plenty of problems."
