Alloa and Rangers have become involved in a war over words over the Wasps’ decision to narrow the pitch size at the Indodrill Stadium.

The Wee County side altered the line markings to narrow their pitch ahead of their match against Falkirk at the beginning of January and will stick with the new size for the remainder of the Championship campaign.

Speaking to STV, Alloa chairman Mike Mulraney defended the move, saying that Rangers had successfully used the tactic under Graeme Souness in the 1980s.

“We narrowed the pitch because we wanted to,” he told STV. “In keeping with sporting integrity, we waited until we had played every team in the league at our ground before reducing its width.

“What contributed to sparking the idea it (narrowing the pitch) was Rangers successfully adopting this under Graeme Souness in the past.

Alloa’s next match is against league leaders Rangers this weekend and the Ibrox club reported manager Mark Warburton’s comments that he was “bemused” that the league rules allowed such a change.

“The width has been reduced from 69 to 60 metres,” Mulraney explained.

SPFL rules dictate the maximum, minimum and recommended dimensions for playing surfaces and Alloa have narrowed their pitch from close to the recommended 68m width to the minimum 60m.

Clubs can apply to change the dimensions at any time, and more than once a season, but must gain the written consent of the SPFL board.

Warburton complained about the rules at his pre-match media conference on Thursday, saying that changing the pitch size was akin to changing the size of the goals.

"I've never heard that you could change the playing dimensions mid-season," Warburton said. "It's a difficult surface but we played well and dealt with it and trained there before.

"But now you find the width has changed significantly. It hasn't changed by a couple of feet, it's changed significantly.

"I personally find that bemusing.

"A change mid-season I just find bizarre. It's not a problem, we'll go there and deal with it. It's not an excuse in any way and we're looking forward to the game.

"Speaking to other managers as well, I'm sure they are as bemused as I am.

"It's a huge change and we're surprised it's allowed to happen mid-season.

Asked why he was bemused by the change, he answered "Would you change the size of the goals mid-season?

"Would you have two referees, not one, mid-season? It's just a personal opinion. I've never heard of it down south.

"It won't change anything from our point of view and, speaking to other managers earlier in the week, some spoke about changing tactics because of it.

"It's another challenge but it is a bizarre decision."