Swindon Town Head Groundsman Matt Povey said that last season was the “perfect storm” with the pitch and he was excited about getting things right this season.

Town had problems with their pitch last season, with both Gavin Gunning and Charlie Austin having mentioned their frustrations with the playing surface inhibiting the team’s play.

Povey, who arrived at Swindon having been Head Groundsman at Ashton Gate two weeks before the start of last season, said he was left “having to pull a rabbit out of the hat.”

He said: “The first year didn’t go as planned for a few different reasons, but we will get there this year.

“When I got here, the pitch was at least eight weeks behind where it should have been and we had two weeks to Crewe and we had to pull a rabbit out of the hat. We got there and got it to some sort of standard.

“But last season clearly wasn’t good enough and that is not my standard and how I want to present the pitch.

“There were many different factors that went into it and it was a perfect storm of what happened last season, with the wettest winter we have had.

“Was anybody happy with it? No. But we will get that right this year and hopefully, the weather plays ball.”

 

 

With work getting underway on the new pitch on Tuesday, Povey said he was confident that there would not be the same issues moving forward.

He said: “We are looking to get a proper growing this year, I am actually here from day one and I will be able to put my stamp on it, do things my way, and it won’t be behind.

“[Have the concerts delayed things?] From a selfish point of view, you want as long as possible, but I have come from a stadium where we have done four-week growings.

“This is a little bit different and with a sand-soil pitch, you want as long as possible to try and get those roots anchored down and be exactly where you want.

“But at the end of the day it was a chance to push commercial revenue and I can fully buy into what the club wants to do, I have done this for many years and it doesn’t faze me.

“The pitch here has been excellent for many years, and we are going to make sure it gets back to that this year.”