WATCH: Extensive renovations to Peterborough United's pitch at the Weston Homes Stadium begin

Extensive works to renovate the pitch at the Weston Homes Stadium have begun.

The hard work has started for groundsman Mark Panter and his team from Greenbay Grounds Maintenance Ltd to clean up and repair the surface after a long season that saw Posh play a total on 29 matches in all competition on the pitch.

The pitch last season earned a large amount of praise during the season for its condition compared to previous campaigns.

Following a couple of weeks of matches which fans and members of the public could book to play on the pitch, work has begun in earnest in preparations for the new season, which begins on August 1.

In order to give the ground staff the most time to complete these works, the club has already confirmed that they will be hosting no friendlies this pre-season.

Speaking about the renovations, Panter said: “Once the pitch hire matches were completed, contractors Hewitt Sports Turf joined us and the first objective was to clean the carpet up to get as much vegetation out of the top of the pitch as possible.

“The next stage was to undertake some general repairs, that means lifting the pop-ups within the pitch itself. After that, the pitch is dressed with between 70-80 tonnes of sand, we then Verti-drain it to about three or four inches. We then brush all the sand into the holes and then overseed and feed the pitch as part of the general renovation.

“This year it has been a fairly basic renovation because the carpet is quite clean anyway, we knew we were in a good position in terms of where we wanted to go with the pitch. As we speak now, it is about keeping the top of the surface moist and hopefully within a few weeks we will be getting the mowers out and beginning to cut the grass.

"Rain is not a problem but what we are really looking for is warmth. That will help and speed things up, but we are happy with the position we are in at this moment in time.”