Mansfield Town expect '˜best ever' playing surface

Chairman John Radford has given groundsman Michael Merriman his biggest budget in the 18 years he has tended to the pitch.

“We’d like to think it will be our best ever – we have spent a fair bit more money on it,” he said.

“Obviously the weather is the weather and games are games, so we will see how it plays.

“It is still very young so it’s still not rooted well. It will be the end of August to September time when the roots go down and start locking to look after itself over the winter.”

Work on it has been extensive with many things done for the first time ever there.

Merriman said: “We have had the underneath turned over. We’ve rotivated it to get some fresh air back in there.

“Then we’ve had fibresand put on the top, which is like 35mm strands of cotton polypropylene and the roots grow into that and grab hold of it to give it a better structure.

“We have also had it laser-levelled. It’s still got a slope on it as to get it completely flat as we’d like, you are looking at major construction which would mean digging the holes probably six foot down and tipping it all back up and getting it level.

“But it has been laser-graded so there are hopefully no dips or hollows on there. That’s the first time we’ve had that process done as well.

“Otherwise it remains the same size pitch – 110 yards long by 70 yards wide – that’s not altered.”