Sheffield Wednesday boss waxes lyrical about Hillsborough after previous pitch nightmare – snow at S6

Wednesday’s pitch was looking more than a little worse for wear at this point last year, but despite over 20 games being played on it already this season, it is looking in great shape for the second half of the campaign.

Snow fell on Sheffield over the weekend, but there has been no indication that the game against Oxford United is in jeopardy, and the Owls’ undersoil heating should prevent there from being any issues to be concerned about.

Speaking to The Star recently, the Owls boss spoke incredibly highly of head groundsman, Leighton Lindley, and his team, saying that the work they’ve done so far has been ‘magnificent’.

“It’s excellent,” Moore mused. “Leighton has done a great job. He runs two split sites, so it really is magnificent.

“What people don’t realise, with the U18s having their run in the cup at home, and our runs in the cup as well, I think before the month of December we’ve played 23 or 24 games on that pitch. The U21s have played four on it as well.

“There have been fixtures that maybe a lot of fans won’t have seen, so to see the state of the pitch and the cleanness of the surface, it’s been nothing short of remarkable.

“In context we’ve effectively played a full season on it already - and that’s been before December.

“So the condition is magnificent, we’ve got another couple of home games in the cup there now, and credit to the groundstaff because they’re doing a marvellous job and the pitch is in great nick.”

Freezing temperatures in Devon over the weekend had some fans worried about the game against Exeter City, but impressive work from the team at St James Park meant that the fixture could go ahead – with the teams battling out to a 1-1 draw.

While the weather in Hillsborough is forecast to be cold in the coming days, no more snow is forecast until Sunday – and the game is fully expected to go ahead as planned. The first team trained on the main pitch on Tuesday.

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