Ground staff working hard...
GOOD progress is being made to get the Banks's Stadium pitch in pristine condition ready for our first pre-season friendly fixture on July 20th.The surface was koro'ed recently with an inch taken off the top to just leave the soil underneath. This in turn was harrowed together with 260 tonnes of fibre sand to make a consistent soil mix for the new pitch to be grown in.
The levelling process then took place to get it back to the true surface before it was over-seeded with 20 bags of rye grass seed. This will be fertilized every two weeks whilst nature will also take its course.
“We've looked to achieve a blank canvass whereby all of the weaker grass has been removed," said groundsman, Paul Mason. "It's been a case of getting as much rye grass into the pitch as we possibly can as this is the harder wearing grass that is more suitable to football pitches.
“It's a process that we look to do every few years and it was certainly needed this year.
“We've been given around eight weeks to get the pitch right. In an ideal world we could have done with slightly longer, but as long as the weather remains kind, we will be fine.
“With the football that Dean Smith likes his team to play, it is important that we get the pitch right and the ground staff will be working extremely hard in the weeks ahead to achieve that.”