With a rugby game taking place at Spotland on Sunday, and the three home friendlies taking place in what is just short of three week's time, groundsman Phil Collinson talks about how the pitch is progressing, and also about the recent difficulties he has faced with it.

"We're five and a half weeks into the growth of the pitch now, but we found that last week we had a nematode problem with the pitch. This means that the pitch had a disease which was attacking the roots, causing it to go backwards rather than develop into a strong plant. We took samples of the soil and took advice from experts on how to handle the problem, which means putting things such as seaweed and garlic down to try and treat it. It's been a battle really, but hopefully we're heading into a stage of recovery now. With us working on it each day it's hard to notice a change, but people who don't see it as often have said there's been an improvement, so hopefully it stands up to the Hornets game on Sunday, then we've got another two weeks before the three home friendlies here."

The problem with the nematodes certainly had Phil and his team worried, so how did last week pan out after finding there was a problem?

"There was a massive worry last week with regards to the nematode problem. At the beginning of the week the pitch was looking perfect, we were really pleased with it, but on the Tuesday we noticed there was a yellow tinge in some places. By the Wednesday the pitch had got even worse, so we sent off the soil for it to be tested. This usually takes seven to ten days, so we had a look on the internet to see what the problem was, and guessed that it was the problem with the nematodes. We've put some bio-stimulant down on the pitch which will hopefully get rid of the nematodes. We've done everything we can really, now it's just a case of seeing what happens over the next week."

Looking forward to Sunday and beyond, how does Phil feel the products put down will take to the Spotland pitch?

"There's no fool-proof way of treating a nematode, so we've tried to do everything we can to drive them away. They thrive in the sand, and obviously the occurrence of the problem has risen in correlation with the amount of sand based pitches, but we need the sand in order to drain the pitch. What we've put down should take a week at most to have an effect. Hopefully the problem will have died down significantly by Sunday so I can get some sleep!"