WHCS surface in great nick.
The U’s hosted West Ham in their first home pre-season game on Saturday and have been praised for the fight they put up against the Premier League side.
Praise was also forthcoming for the playing surface itself, with both teams able to move the ball around with purpose in the sunshine.
As usual, a lot of work has been done over the course of the close season and Head Groundsman David Blacknall was pleased with the first match on it.
“I’ve got to be honest, I was very pleased with the pitch and how it played on Saturday. We have had six weeks since the pitch was completely re-seeded and reinforced with further fibre sand.”
In that six weeks, north Essex has had plenty of rain but David explained that it was more good than bad in helping the pitch.
“We had a lot of water on it at times but overall, it was more help than hindrance. It made it difficult to get on it as much as I would have liked but it certainly helped with the grass growth. And rain is always better than any irrigation system at getting an even spread of water on.
On the summer schedule, David added: “Last year, we had five weeks and I was sweating a bit. This year, although the early days saw the seed germinate slower than ideal, after about three weeks, I was confident we were ok.”