Cheltenham Town: Whaddon Road pitch update
Tonight's weather will play a pivotal role in the chances of Cheltenham Town's home match against Rochdale going ahead.
More snow will virtually ruin any hopes of the League Two clash taking place on Friday night.
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The Abbey Business Stadium pitch under a blanket of snow
But a bout of rain would give groundsman Terry Roberts a chance of pumping the water away and placing the protective sheets down ahead of the anticipated heavy frosts on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
"The pitch is still covered in snow, but it's half the depth it was yesterday," Roberts said.
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"What melted yesterday had turned to ice by this morning, so it's still white, but you can see the lines in places.
"The key is tonight because if there is more snow we'll be in big trouble, but if we get rain, it will clear it and we can get the frost sheets down."
Members of the Robins' youth team squad are poised to help Roberts and assistant groundsman Matt Rainey cover the pitch tomorrow, if the snow has been washed away.
"It's forecast to be -3 on Wednesday night and -5 on Thursday, so we need definitely to cover it for it to have a chance", Roberts said.
3 Comments
by LP1212
Thursday, January 24 2013, 1:57PM
“Mmmmmmmm! So didn't they need to protect the pitch ahead of the Gloucester City game?
I know we get useful money for the ground-sharing deal, and have just agreed it for another season. But the pitch has been a lot worse in the January-April months since we went in for ground-sharing than previously - despite the Chairman's denial of that this time last year. I do wonder if it is worth it when looked at in the round.
But maybe the weather today will help enable the game to go ahead tomorrow night, when doubtless Rochdale supporters (and indeed Cheltenham) will be attending in far greater numbers than if we had left the match to be played on a Saturday afternoon!”
by CheltRobin
Thursday, January 24 2013, 9:41AM
“I think they had to keep the covers off the pitch as Glos City were due to play on it last Saturday.”
by LP1212
Thursday, January 24 2013, 8:02AM
“I am no expert on ground maintenance, but this raises the question: why were the protective sheets not already down before the forecast snow fell? The snow could then have been removed by dragging it off on the sheets (with the help of fans), as has been seen to happen at other grounds.”