ABERDEEN have only two home games out of six before the split — but ironically this could be a massive boost to the Dons' third-place and Scottish Cup hopes.
The Pittodrie surface has suffered over the winter, and received criticism from both managers after Saturday's dire draw between the Reds and Killie.
And Dons star winger Sone Aluko believes it may be an advantage for the Dons that the majority of their pre-split SPL games are away from the poor Pittodrie pitch.
And the Dons will not play another Scottish Cup game at home, after being drawn away to Dunfermline in the quarter final, and the possible semi and final played on neutral territory.
"Hopefully that will give the pitch time to recover," said Aluko. "The pitch is cutting up a lot, which makes it hard to play quick, slick football.
"It is the same for both teams but it is a hindrance if you are trying to play good football.
"Maybe the other teams have better surfaces than we do at the moment and that could help us."
Jimmy Calderwood certainly believes that the pitch has been a factor in the Dons loss of form, particularly on Saturday.
He said: "I'm not making excuses but the pitch is not condusive to playing good football and I think it really affected both teams.
"Whereas you'd usually take a touch and go round a player, you were having to take two or three and it just doesn't make things easy."
