Pitching in for a game thumbs up

Forres Mechanics are pulling out all the stops to end a two month wait for a home tie as they work to ensure that Mosset Park is playable for this weekend’s match against Deveronvale.

Their last home match took place on the 8th of December 2012, a 5-2 victory over Lossiemouth, but since then the club have had to take remedial action to repair the pitch which is suffering from a drainage problem similar to the one that occurred two years ago.

As the club chairman Dr James Anderson explained the club has learned from the experience of the previous issue and has took similar steps to ensure the pitch is playable for the remainder of the season.

Anderson said, “It is not in the same position as the previous issue but it is not too far away from it, although it is essentially the same problem in that the water is not draining away.”

The club have had to have deep holes dug in the surface which have been filled with stones to aid the surface drainage, before covering them up once more and “The Doc” is hopeful that this will prove to be a successful short term solution.

“We hope the action taken a couple of weeks ago will remedy the current problems but over the course of this week and the next few months we will gain a realistic understanding of where we have been successful or not.

“Tentative plans are being made for more definitive action that could take place at the end of the season, but we don’t want to do anything too adventurous at this stage of the season because it could mean that the pitch would be out of action for a period of time that would make it difficult to complete our league campaign at Mosset Park.”

“Having said that, we remain optimistic that our pitch will be giving us no more trouble than the majority of other clubs have to deal with over the remainder of the season. Each ground has it’s own peculiarities and problems and we are no different.”

It is understood that the club will be in discussions with Deveronvale with regards the possibility of playing the Deveronvale v Forres Mechanics match that was postponed earlier in the season if it is clear early in the week that Mosset Park is not going to be playable

However Dr Anderson was keen to point out that the aim is to play the fixture that is current scheduled, “We have strategies that will be put into operation in the next few days and there is no question that we are going to make every effort to ensure that the pitch is playable on Saturday, albeit the weather will have a big say on that.”