Reading pitch renovation

By Boyd Butler

Work is currently underway on the Madejski Stadium pitch in preparation for Division One football next season. The surface looks vastly different at the moment, and the official Second Division Groundsman Of The Year Jem Fox said, "very simply, we're scarifying,

"Since we had 'Desso' installed though we haven't really looked back, the reinforcement qualities have held the surface together and I am very pleased with the retention of levels. To that end we are not planning to do any top dressing on the pitch this year".

"The heavy rain has held us up a bit, but we should be finished on Thursday. It'll be another ten days before the pitch begins to look normal again, when the seed comes up."