United media officer and first team kitman Andy Hall (AH) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Paul Newton (PN) this evening ahead of Carlisle's scheduled League One match at home to Chesterfield tomorrow afternoon, Hall giving the latest update on the state of the Brunton Park pitch :
PN
I know you have just been having a look at the pitch within the last hour, what is the latest as things stand?
AH
Well, it is really frustrating because had the game been played today there would have been absolutely no problems whatsoever. That sounds strange after the announcement that we made at about half past ten this morning, because I think the whole club, everybody down there, was stood on the pitch, shaking our heads and thinking that we had a job on. An hour and a half after that the first team trained on it because the sun came up and some cloud cover came across and without knowing all the technicalities of that the frost disappeared almost completely.
So, the pitch at three o'clock today was playable, it has stayed that way all the way through the afternoon, again we have all been out there with Dave Mitchell and his team to get the Geofleece covers on, and we are looking at about 80% of the pitch has got Geofleece covers on with the temperature still above zero when we finished the job around or about quarter past five there.
So, I would say that we are feeling confident right now, but listening to the weather report we have got to caveat that and if those temperatures do drop below minus eight tonight then we will have another battle on in the morning. But, right now we have to say that the pitch is playable and fine and how unbelievable is that after the night we had last night.
PN
Yeah, absolutely, and of course it is not just about the state of the pitch as well, it is also about the areas surrounding the ground, the approaches, the ground itself isn't it, spectator safety has to be a primary concern?
AH
It is but there are absolutely no problems whatsoever with any of that, it is purely a pitch issue right now and it has been all day. All the stands, the terracing, the seating, everything like that, hasn't even needed to be looked at, it is purely the pitch. Like I say, half ten this morning you were probably thinking 50-50 but it was a negative 50-50.
An hour and a half later and you are watching the lads bomb around on the playing surface, passing and shooting and lining up as if they are playing the match tomorrow and it was fine. So, we are in the hands of the weather now, we are really, really confident as we sit here right now, but what does the weather do tonight, that will decide whether this game is on or off tomorrow.
PN
And what are the plans for tomorrow then in terms of is there any pitch inspection scheduled? What is the thinking behind that?
AH
We have been talking to the referee (Geoff Eltringham) and the Football League all day and we always take their advice on what they think we should do. They know all about the Geofleece and I think we were one of the few clubs who managed to get all but one game on last season, I think it was the Exeter game where again we had three nights of -13c or whatever it was, and you are not going to beat that whatever you have got.
So, we have been talking to them, they have advised us that we don't need to put the referee on standby, however they will be watching closely so we will have to react very early in the morning, we will all be in there early in the morning to remove the covers, to look at how the pitch has done through the night and if there is any doubt whatsoever then we will be on to everybody straight away. I think we will be in as early as half past seven or eight o'clock, something like that.
That is not to say there is a pitch inspection, that is the normal going through the process that the club does, and look at the situation and then we take it from there. So, if we need to kick the Football League into action and the match officials into action then we can do all of that in the morning. But, at the moment nobody is on standy because we are feeling quite good about it.
PN
And having gone through that experience quite recently of MK Dons and that late call-off, what is the latest will the club sort of hold out to until they make that final decision?
AH
Well, Chesterfield are also key to this, now their first team took the decision to travel today, that is their decision, it is in their hands as to what they do. So, they have come, they are on their way, infact they are probably here now somewhere in the Cumbria region, we can't do anything about that.
However, the fans, again we have been talking to Chesterfield and their fan groups all day, they are leaving at some time around nine or ten o'clock tomorrow, so we would hope to be giving out advice at the very least by those stages, by ten o'clock at the latest as to how we think the situation is. If we can do it before then we will, but people have to bear in mind that we do have to get the covers off, and not just whip them off if the temperature is still low.
We have to do it in stages to make sure that if there is any way, even if it has been really cold, of getting the game on then we will get the game on. So, we don't want to jeopardise it, we want the game on, we need to play it, the lads want to play it, everybody wants the game to go ahead. But, at the same time we don't want to be in a ridiculous situation where come two o'clock we are saying to people actually we can't do it, and everybody is at the ground. So, it is a balance and we will try to get it right in the morning.