ONE of the wettest Junes on record has left Burnley facing a race against time to have their new £200,000 pitch ready for the start of the 1998/99 season.

The club insists they will win that race and be ready for the big kick-off on August 8.

But they could have just one day to spare as the contractors Sportsmac of York were only able to sew the grass seed yesterday.

There needs to be an eight-week growing time before the pitch is used and that period runs to the day before the season starts !

"It's critical and got to the situation where they had to just get on with it," confirmed ground director Clive Holt.

"You need 24 hours of dry weather for seeding and we haven't had that in the past fortnight. It's been a bit of a problem but it will be ready for the start of the season." Chairman Frank Teasdale said that the club had not requested an away game on the opening day, although the breathing space may now come in handy.

And the Clarets will find out on Monday where they will be playing their first League game under Stan Ternent when the fixtures are released.

In recent days the pitch company has been searching for a lighter piece of machinery to carry out the seeding work on the damp pitch bed.

And the polypropane fibre base to the pitch, which lies on the top surface of sand to bind the grass playing surface together, also needed to be laid in dry conditions.

One good piece of news for the contractors was that tests on the fibre base came back positive to confirm that it had taken properly and would allow successful drainage and grass growth.

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