A sneak peek of the fabulous playing surface that awaits Portsmouth on their return to Fratton Park against Sheffield United

Grounds manager Neil Stephenson has it well under control.

And if you don’t believe us, all you have to do is look at his latest post on X, formerly Twitter.

The south coast has been battered by rain and wind for the majority of the past seven days as the summer looks to have well and truly left. There’s even been a nip in the air as autumn makes its presence felt.

However, the conditions haven’t impacted Stephenson and his team from producing another sublime playing surface for this afternoon’s visit of the Blades.

If anything, it looks better than ever, with the newly-laid pitch appearing in peak condition and hopefully able to help John Mousinho’s side play some scintillating stuff against United as they look to secure their first win of the Championship season.

The finishing touches were being applied yesterday as the grounds team worked hard on the playing surface pattern that always draws much attention. It all comes at a cost, though, with Stephenson & Co putting in the miles to produce a pitch we can all be proud off!

Showing off his team’s work via X, he said: ‘Putting the pattern back in ready for tomorrow after a full week of rain, letting it rest and the 10-4-4 kicking in nicely, bit of a walk for the team with a single lengthways and a double widthways cut.’

The previous Fratton Park playing surface was stripped back at the end of last season to make way for the new Mixto carpet pitch. It was part of yet more significant work undertaken by the club during the summer to ensure the Blues’ famous old ground was in tip-top shape for its Championship return.

Pompey were unable to play any home pre-season friendlies as a result, while they also asked the EFL to ensure thei first match of the season was away from home to give the pitch extra time to bed in.

As you can see, all that effort has paid off with the Blues currently boasting one of the best playing surfaces in England.