Pitch maintenance

GROUNDS maintenance works have started at Barmouth football club’s Wern Mynach pitch only days after having played their last home game of the season.Over eighty tons of special silica sand was ‘earthquaked’ into the ground on Thursday by specialist contractors ALS Telford. Wern Mynach is regarded as one of the best playing surfaces in north Wales. The work which cost £6,000 was essential after the Welsh Alliance side failed to play a home game on the pitch between the middle of October and March due to the state of the playing surface.The pitch was first ‘earthquaked’ to release compaction in the ground to help future drainage. It was then ‘virtie’ drained by a machine which punched almost half a million holes, nine inches deep into the surface.A drag mat was then driven over the whole playing area pushing the sand into the holes and slits which were previously made.Club chairman Wil Huntley said: “Ideally we could do with doing this every year for the next five years.“This would change the consistency of the soil which at the moment is very heavy and retains the water. This is what has happened during the winter.“The pitch is now being reseeded and fertilised and hopefully we will not have to postpone as many home games next season.”