Tilson: 'ColU suit conditions, ball gets forward early'; Boothroyd: 'Pitch great to grow cabbages'

Head farmer Boothroyd inspects pitch for Essex derby

Following on from Blues skipper Adam Barrett's comments yesterday, where he said the pitch at the Weston Homes Community Stadium: "Isn't the best right now. It doesn't have any grass in some areas."



Possibily not what the Sky viewers will see on Monday

The pitch has been badly cut up by the snow and heavy rain over the past two months and Blues boss Steve Tilson described it as 'shocking' only three days before the Colchester v Southend game is broadcast to the nation on Sky Sports.

Boothroyd: 'It's not particularly good for football'

ColU boss Aidy Boothroyd told BBC Essex: "It's fabulous if you want to grow cabbages and potatoes, it's not particularly good for football. The groundsmen are working really hard on it and they're trying to do the best. But with the weather that we've had and the lack of the adequate drainage for this sort of weather, we're trying to make the best of what we've got."

The nickname of Farmers never been more accurate!



Tilly: 'We're going to have to adjust our game to the conditions'

Meanwhile, Tilly said: "It's shocking, there's no two-ways about it. We're going to have to adjust our game to the conditions. They play the conditions really well because they get the ball forward early."

Even a ColU fan wrote recently in S24 that watching his own team was: 'Bloody awful to watch and typical park football.'

The watching thousands can expect plenty of Route 1 stuff then which will suit the home side more, what Arsenal loanee Sanchez Watt will make of it God only knows.

The quicker we get back to Roots Hall the better to show him how Tilly sides really play and hope there's enough football played on Monday for Southend to grab something from the match.

As well as live coverage on Sky Sports 1 from 19.30 on Monday, February 8th, kick-off 19.45, there's full match commentary on BBC Essex 103.5 FM and 95.3 FM from 19.00.