Winter Sports - Football


recorded nearly 19mm of rain on the Thursday and Friday, but still used the irrigation through Friday night and Saturday morning to keep the pitch stable.


On the 7th, there was a slight


frost in the morning but, once it lifted, the pitch was verti- drained at tight spacings, but with no heave. On the 8th, we had a heavy frost, Pro-Coring the pitch again once it lifted, and the next day we had 9mm of rain. On the 9th, we applied 180kg of 3:3:12. 3mm of rain fell during the 10th and then 35mm of rain on the 11th. We put out germination sheets down the west side of the pitch, and they stayed in place, with some severe frosts, until the 15th. Since we had a break in


fixtures, we needed to get the team experienced in the deployment of our rain cover system. So, on the 17th, the sheets were unrolled and fixed in position down the pitch. Over the next few days, we had nearly 50mm of rain, but these storms were alongside some strong winds and, whilst not ideal, the covers stayed on until Wednesday 23rd. When we removed them, there was plenty of ‘candyfloss’ mycelium patches and we debated about spraying the pitch with fungicide again. The decision was to leave it as more cold weather was imminent, so we fed the pitch with another 180kg of 3:3:12 on the 24th. The cold air moved back in and we had a sub-zero night and a white frosty pitch on the 25th and again on the 26th.


The cold weather checked the disease and the grass responded well to the feed. We checked the drains


leading down to the river and they were running fine on the 29th.


The pitch was mown/rolled twice in the build up to the Latics vs. Derby match on the 3rd December, game number 19. It was repaired over the next couple of days, we had frost on the 5th, followed by another 40mm of rain over the next few days, so we applied 160kg of 3:3:12 on the 8th, allowing the feed to be washed in. A fateful night on the 5th as Wigan got drawn at home in the FA Cup 3rd round in January, yet another fixture to pencil into the diary! We had eased right back on


our preparation of the surface, to try to avoid more plant damage. We’d also noticed how the west side was starting to become a little unstable, so had ceased any more aeration, for the time being at least. I went through the irrigation with Rob and the lads on the morning of the 14th, Latics were playing Newcastle that evening, live on the TV. It was important to get the soil moisture spot on, leading right up to the warm- ups before each game to help keep the surface stable. The pitch played as well as it


had done for a while, and the pitch was repaired and then prepared for the visit of Ipswich on the 17th. The game was played in severe fog; after the game, it made for an eerie


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Core sample taken out on 13th October PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 I 51


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