STRATFORD TOWN | PITCH PERFECT

Bickley beats the elements

As Storm Babet did its best to cause disruption over the weekend, six Pitching In Southern League Premier Central fixtures fell victim of the wet weather on Saturday.

Of the five games that did take place, two were on 3G surfaces, whilst at the Arden Garages Stadium, home of Stratford Town, Head Groundsman, Mark Bickley, worked his magic to ensure that their game against St. Ives Town went ahead as a number of games locally were postponed.

“To be honest, most of the work had been during the close season and regularly since the season started,” said Bickley, an accountant by trade who took a career change five years ago and hasn’t looked back since. “Like many teams at our level, the pitch is utilised by more than one team and has always suffered from compaction.

“Once the season gets into autumn and the rain arrives, it becomes difficult to manage and keep the pitch playable and in good condition.

“This year we changed the process we normally follow with an aggressive scarification of the pitch to try and remove as much debris as possible. The restoration and over-seeding was followed by regular aeration to keep the surface open.

“We decided to wait until July before we applied 60 ton of top dressing which left the pitch somewhat sandy but after a couple of weeks, it started to look better than ever.

“We also took the decision not to use any heavy mowers and equipment on the pitch having changed from traditional heavy cylinder mowers to more lightweight rotary mowers.

“The presentation still looks good but the reduction clearly avoids the compaction problem.

“We regularly verticut and slit the pitch and the surface showed very little damage after each game. With the onset of last week’s storm, we managed to get the pitch Vertidrained which de-compacted the pitch.

“This was literally finished an hour before the bad weather arrived. After the deluge of Thursday night and Friday morning, the pitch, whilst very wet in places in the morning, was playable by 4pm.

“You can never be sure all the work done is going to work, so on Friday we decided to put covers on the goalmouths and penalty areas just in case more heavy rain arrived, but fortunately we only had light showers and it took just the two of us to get these removed on Saturday morning ahead of the game.

“Just myself and Assistant Groundsman, Jordan Allen, did all the work. I was always confident that we would get the game on despite some concerns from others!

“It was very pleasing, not just to get the game on, but also the appreciation of the players and from our visitors, St. Ives, who were very complimentary about the playing surface.

“I think our supporters were also somewhat surprised by how good the pitch was as they have seen first-hand over the years how the pitch had suffered after heavy rain.”

The ultimate reward came late on in the game when Callum Ebanks popped up to net the winner and secure a precious three points.

“Yes, the three points was the most important part in the end,” Bickley added. “And afterwards there weren't too many areas to repair, so a good day all round!”

The Bards head to Berkhamsted on Tuesday evening as they look to break into the top half of the table.

Stratford Town Web Site