FOREST Green groundsman Stewart Ward is optimistic Saturday’s Skrill Premier clash at home to Salisbury City will beat the weather.

Six- and- three-quarter inches of rainfall has fallen on the New Lawn playing surface in the last fortnight, but Ward expects to see Ady Pennock’s side in action.

Ward said: “The predicted rainfall before the game on Saturday morning is looking dodgy, but we’re doing everything we can to get the game on and I am optimistic.”

Rovers’ organic ethos is certainly paying off and giving the club a strong chance of staging the game.

Ward added: “We’ve used a new organic wetting agent, which allows the moisture (rain) to come straight through to the surface and all the way down into the drainage and that is doing a great job - we would certainly be playing if the match was today.

“I am verti-draining the pitch, eight inches down today and tomorrow to break the surface open to get the water through. “I have one dodgy patch, which we can address with ceramic clay, which absorbs the water like a sponge, and we also have a big sponge to sponge the pitch on the match day, if we need it.”

“The pitch is pretty good at the moment and the key is preparation at the beginning of the season.”