HEAD groundsman Steve Patrick has been Blackburn Rovers boss Brian Kidd's secret weapon in his battle to prevent a repeat of last season's unprecedented injury problems.

An alarming casualty list undoubtedly contributed to relegation and Kidd, as he promised, has implemented his own plans in an effort to imrpove things for next season.

And that's where the groundsman comes in, carrying out the manager's wishes for a 'softly-softly' approach at their Brockhall training headquarters. "Even in the short time I have been at the club, we have had horrendous injury problems," said the manager.

"We could never pick the same team two games running.

"But we have changed the nature of the pitches at Brockhall by 'softening' them up a little.

"There must be a reason for all these injuries, and especially why a lot of players have been suffering from a certain type of injury.

"We are looking at every possible way to improve the situation."

Groin injuries have been particularly prevalent among the squad and there is a theory that the training pitches, made to be able to stand a lot of wear and tear, could have been taking their toll by being too firm.

They contained fibre sand but that has now been replaced by a polymercalled Terracottem from a Belgian company and, initially at least, everyone seems happy about the change. After discussions with his head groundsman, Kidd asked for the work to be carried out and Patrick repeated what he had done at the main stadium at the end of championship season when the pitch badly needed work.

"When we did Ewood in 1995, we had a problem," said Patrick.

"We took the top four inches of soil off and replaced it, mixing in the polymer.

"What it does is retains a bit of moisture. It's user-friendly and has a softer touch.

"A lot of top clubs followed what we had done when they saw how well it worked at Ewood and we are having it introduced into the new Academy pitches as well.

"Fibre sand is a grass stabilising technique and allows you to use the pitches more frequently, but there is a tendency for them to go hard.

"Some managers like that, some don't.

"But Brian Kidd seems happy with what we have done since the end of last season.

"It has certainly been a great success at Ewood. Hopefully it will be good for Brockhall too."

Good progress is being made on the new Academy pitches, with two of them having already been seeded.

Tickets for the all ticket friendly at Blackpool on Saturday, July 24, are on sale priced £8 adults and £4 concessions. Payment for Rovers' game at Oldham on July 27 is on the turnstile, same prices.

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