Mansfield community assist pitch preparations for Bristol Rovers clash after 'sharpish' snowfall

Mansfield Town have relied on help and support from fans and the local community to help the groundstaff clear snow from the pitch at the One Call Stadium and ensure it is ready to play host to the Stags' League One game against Bristol Rovers tomorrow afternoon.

Snow in large parts of the UK earlier this week caught some off guard with Rovers releasing pictures of the players training in the frosty conditions on Tuesday. However, the weather has been more severe up in the East Midlands with extra assistance called upon on Friday to ensure the game goes ahead.

There are currently limited, if any, concerns that the game could be in jeopardy amid the conditions but on the back of snowfall this week and heavy rain expected overnight, extra work has been required to ensure the surface is to playable standard come 3pm Saturday.

Speaking to Mansfield club media, the club's head groundsman Michael Merriman explained: "It's been okay to be fair. We covered it on Monday, put the frost covers on, to protect it and then the snow came sharpish. That protects the pitch, believe it or not, because it keeps it insulated. So we've just left it all week. Keep off, keep off, keep off so we don't form any ice on there.

"We've asked for fans and the general public to come and give us a hand to start clearing it ready for the game tomorrow.

"We started at half eight this morning," he added. "I think it's going to be all day. We're going to leave the covers on because it's minus one again tonight and then start again tomorrow, start pulling the covers off with the slush and there'll be a bit of ice on there now we're clearing the snow. So that's a different problem tomorrow morning.

"It's great [people coming to help]. Believe it or not, it's usually the older generation. We've got some lads out there in their seventies and they're doing as much work as everybody else to be fair to them. There's normally the same few that come every time without fail.

"It's great from the community coming down to help the local club and they want to see football as well."

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The Met Office has issued a weather warning ahead of the arrival of Storm Bert this weekend with heavy rain, strong winds and disruptive snow expected to hit parts of the UK.

Heavy rainfall is expected overnight in and around the Mansfield area and further extra work and assistance will be required on Saturday morning to ensure that the game goes ahead as planned.

One of the priorities of the Mansfield groundstaff is to have as many volunteers come to the stadium to help on Saturday morning with Merriman saying: "Get as many people down here as possible, that's the first one [priority] and then just get the covers off. Let's open the pitch and see what's what. If we can put a mower over it we will, if we can't then we can't. They're just going to have to play on it as it is. Don't get me wrong, it's lovely and flat. We did the pitch on Monday before we covered it as well. We doubled it so tomorrow's just a case of white lines, if we can't get on with mowers, and goals up and away we go.

"Turn up. 8:30, 9am-ish would be great, just to pull the covers back. Hopefully it's just an hour's work tomorrow. We're going to try and get the covers away if we can.

"Very confident [the game will go ahead]. Got no worries at the moment. Obviously, I don't know what's going to fall. Let's see how heavy this rain comes."