Pitch condition

[Claverham_Red]

Big fan of the pitch normally, but Dolman side of the pitch is really poor today (compared to normal high standards). Bet groundsmen can't wait for the season's end. Fingers crossed for no new injuries today.  

Edited April 1, 2023 by Claverham_Red

[petehinton]

It’s an absolute mess. Will be cut up beyond belief after 60 minutes. **** sake

[italian dave]

If Reading lose I think they’ll have a right  moan about the state of it. And with some justification. 

[Super]

6 minutes ago, italian dave said:

If Reading lose I think they’ll have a right  moan about the state of it. And with some justification. 

It's not that bad.

[italian dave]

1 minute ago, Super said:

It's not that bad.

Doesn’t mean they won’t have a moan! 

And they have fallen over several times. (As have City players a couple of times, but I think we’re anticipating it more now). 

[Davefevs]

There are plenty of teams in our division with worse surfaces, many where there is no substance beneath the top layer, and player lose their footing all the time.

[Bris Red]

Surface is a disgrace, ******* rugby.

[ExiledAjax]

And yet we knocked out a pass accuracy of 81%, had our joint highest number of shots this season, our highest number of shots on target this season, and didn't sustain any injuries.

[bexhill reds]

I thought the pitch created the muddle that led to the freekick which got their goal, it seemed to be a combination of players slipping and ball sticking, which led the foul

[GrahamC]

2 hours ago, italian dave said:

If Reading lose I think they’ll have a right  moan about the state of it. And with some justification. 

Luckily Reading decided that they were going to kick the ball in the air all the time.

It would have made no difference to them if we’d played on The Netham.

[Sleepy1968]

1 hour ago, ExiledAjax said:

And yet we knocked out a pass accuracy of 81%, had our joint highest number of shots this season, our highest number of shots on target this season, and didn't sustain any injuries.

This is not the time nor place for facts.

[Red-Robbo]

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

There are plenty of teams in our division with worse surfaces, many where there is no substance beneath the top layer, and player lose their footing all the time.

 

Seemed to work to our advantage today. Reading's forwards spent more time on the grass than Cheech & Chong.

Perhaps, just the mark of our better players that they coped with a surface cut up not just by rugby, but by a month with almost twice its average rainfall. 

[Antman]

55 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

 Reading's forwards spent more time on the grass than Cheech & Chong.

 

Old school reference there - like it!

thats just going to 'whooosh' over the young 'uns

(they probably think they're Tik Tok celebs)

[cidered abroad]

6 hours ago, Crackers Corner said:

Just arrived Looks ok to me, seems in better state than last home game.

Considering that a rugby match was played on Friday evening and that we've had heavy rain overnight, I thought the pitch looked and played quite well.

May not be in perfect condition but considerably better in April than pitches twenty and more years ago. 

Many years ago I walked over the pitch after last game of season when City were relegated, the pitch had a couple of square metres at each corner flag with the rest of the pitch a sand and mud heap. So not perfect but not as bad as some are claiming.

[ralphindevon]

1 hour ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

Seemed to work to our advantage today. Reading's forwards spent more time on the grass than Cheech & Chong.

Perhaps, just the mark of our better players that they coped with a surface cut up not just by rugby, but by a month with almost twice its average rainfall. 

I noticed Andy Carroll had to change his boots mid first half. That’s as poor the pitch has been for a few years.

But, on leaving the ground that’s the wettest I’ve seen the park for years, flooded in a few places. We’ve had a load of rain this week right up until 1 ish today.

Can you imagine the the state of the pitch in the 80s and before if the ground had hosted 2 women’s internationals in the same day, a rugby team and us playing every week and a rugby game the day before our match in the wettest week we’ve had for ages? A ploughed field would be flatter

[glynriley]

2 minutes ago, ralphindevon said:

I noticed Andy Carroll had to change his boots mid first half. That’s as poor the pitch has been for a few years.

But, on leaving the ground that’s the wettest I’ve seen the park for years, flooded in a few places. We’ve had a load of rain this week right up until 1 ish today.

Can you imagine the the state of the pitch in the 80s and before if the ground had hosted 2 women’s internationals in the same day, a rugby team and us playing every week and a rugby game the day before our match in the wettest week we’ve had for ages? A ploughed field would be flatter

I said during the game, that pitch took me back 30 years. Coupled with the performance I was surprised I didn’t see Denis Smith in the dugout. 

[Kolsch]

11 hours ago, WECANDO said:

I've put a comment about this on another heading. Football needs a flat, even pitch, rugby not so much. So the obvious thing to do is play the football before the rugby. So footy Friday night and rugby Saturday or footy Saturday and rugby Sunday. How difficult is that or is there a monetary reason for it.

Agreed, the bears should only be able to play after City games. Never the day before.

[The Bard]

3 minutes ago, Kolsch said:

Agreed, the bears should only be able to play after City games. Never the day before.

Thing is, it doesn't quite work like that does it?

[ralphindevon]

43 minutes ago, glynriley said:

I said during the game, that pitch took me back 30 years. Coupled with the performance I was surprised I didn’t see Denis Smith in the dugout. 

We could have done with seeing Andy Cole on the pitch 

[E.G.Red]

54 minutes ago, cidered abroad said:

Considering that a rugby match was played on Friday evening and that we've had heavy rain overnight, I thought the pitch looked and played quite well.

May not be in perfect condition but considerably better in April than pitches twenty and more years ago. 

Many years ago I walked over the pitch after last game of season when City were relegated, the pitch had a couple of square metres at each corner flag with the rest of the pitch a sand and mud heap. So not perfect but not as bad as some are claiming.

I think the issue is we've been used in recent season. to having such a pristine pitch. So the difference in the surface from how it was to now are even more noticeable. 

[Red-Robbo]

3 hours ago, ralphindevon said:

I noticed Andy Carroll had to change his boots mid first half. That’s as poor the pitch has been for a few years.

But, on leaving the ground that’s the wettest I’ve seen the park for years, flooded in a few places. We’ve had a load of rain this week right up until 1 ish today.

Can you imagine the the state of the pitch in the 80s and before if the ground had hosted 2 women’s internationals in the same day, a rugby team and us playing every week and a rugby game the day before our match in the wettest week we’ve had for ages? A ploughed field would be flatter

 

Indeedy. I remember grounds of the 70s - including ours - and during the winter months the Evening Post could've supplemented their Spot the Ball competition with a Spot the Blade of Grass one!   

[petehinton]

7 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

And yet we knocked out a pass accuracy of 81%, had our joint highest number of shots this season, our highest number of shots on target this season, and didn't sustain any injuries.

Moot point, but James went off injured with what he gestured to be a hamstring issue. Concerned to hear an update on that one given how he hobbled off 

[ralphindevon]

7 hours ago, petehinton said:

Moot point, but James went off injured with what he gestured to be a hamstring issue. Concerned to hear an update on that one given how he hobbled off 

I read somewhere it was just cramp, hopefully that’s the case.

Edit, confirmed it was cramp, the sodden pitch wouldn’t have helped

Edited April 2, 2023 by ralphindevon

[Cityboy1954]

On 01/04/2023 at 08:20, Denbury Red said:

I was surprised to see that Bristol Bears played at Ashton Gate last night!

I wonder how the condition of the pitch will be affected?

Surely not good planning??

Terrible decision that bears game shouldave been played sunday if at all especially with the amount of rain we've had .

[Slippin cider]

All the time we have egg chasing nothing will change re condition of pitch ….shame 

[Bourne End Red]

4 minutes ago, Slippin cider said:

All the time we have egg chasing nothing will change re condition of pitch ….shame 

They aren’t going away.

[LondonRobin]

Right let’s put this to bed. I was at the bears game and after the match didn’t look too bad considering the rugby and rain during the game. Looked much worse after the City game suggesting the rain was the key factor here. 
 

Secondly Bristol Bears don’t decide when they play European fixtures and as this was a knock-out round impossible to know for sure if Bears would qualify. 
 

Thirdly we are getting a new surface in the summer

Edited April 2, 2023 by LondonRobin

[ralphindevon]

23 minutes ago, Slippin cider said:

All the time we have egg chasing nothing will change re condition of pitch ….shame 

Plus the Women will be playing more games there if they get promoted.

I certainly think we should be turning down events like the women’s international double header.

Plus hopefully we won’t get many deluge’s like we’ve had this week in a week we’ve had 2 games in 24 hours. A bit of luck with the weather and timings of games and next years new pitch should be fine. 

[One Team]

19 hours ago, Kolsch said:

Agreed, the bears should only be able to play after City games. Never the day before.

Completely agree, ridiculous having a rugby game the night before our game. 

Ideally they should have their own ground and this would never be an issue, but that’s not going to happen any time soon.

Which does raise an interesting point; if we ever do become an established Premier League club, would we continue to have Bristol Bears play at Ashton Gate? 

Edited April 2, 2023 by One Team

[And Its Smith]

12 minutes ago, LondonRobin said:

Right let’s put this to bed. I was at the bears game and after the match didn’t look too bad considering the rugby and rain during the game. Looked much worse after the City game suggesting the rain was the key factor here. 
 

Secondly Bristol Bears don’t decide when they play European fixtures and as this was a knock-out round impossible to know for sure if Bears would qualify. 
 

Thirdly we are getting a new surface in the summer

Don’t come on here with your facts!  People won’t want to read it…

 

3 minutes ago, One Team said:

Completely agree, ridiculous having a rugby game the night before our game. 

Ideally they should have their own ground and this would never be an issue, but that’s not going to happen any time soon.

See!