WHEN Barrow AFC made their pitch for title success last season, they could rely on the Conference North’s best groundsman to boost their cause.

Having made massive improvements to the Holker Street surface, Gareth Morgan, of Earthly Matters, was effectively crowned as the division’s best performer for 2014/15 after the Football Association named him as runner-up in the Football Conference Groundsman of the Year awards.

From the Football Conference’s three divisions – also including Conference South and the Conference (now under the National League banner) – only Bristol Rovers’ Eric Kingscott was adjudged to have produced a better pitch than Morgan as he was named the winner.

That meant Morgan produced the second-best pitch in non-league football.

Another Conference side claimed third place, with the impressive work of Aldershot Town’s Andy Nunn also recognised.

Morgan, and his fellow celebrated groundsmen, picked up their awards at St George’s Park this month, when they were also treated to a tour of the FA’s national football centre.

The lifelong Bluebirds fan, who is from Barrow and assisted by big AFC supporter Craig Collings, started work on the Holker Street pitch following Barrow’s 2012/13 Conference relegation season.

Responding to his success, he said: “I’m more than happy when you consider that the last time we were in the Conference some teams came complaining how bad the pitch was.

“I remember when we first took over the areas in front of the Main Stand were just hammered and that’s why the ball was bobbling around so much, because it hadn’t had any top-dressing done for a few years.

“Once you start neglecting a pitch, it normally takes quite a while to get it back up to a decent standard.

“We’re more than happy with how it went last season.”

It is Morgan’s understanding that opposition players and officials assessed his pitch last season, before a shortlist consisting of the top three clubs in each division was formulated.

Also shortlisted in Conference North were Hyde and Fylde, who were highly commended for the state of their surfaces.

West Ham’s head groundsman Dougie Robertson visited Holker Street in March to evaluate Morgan’s work.

During the season, Morgan and AFC assistant-groundsman Collings, who lives in Ulverston, typically work on the pitch for two-and-a-half days per week. Morgan’s pitch is in even finer fettle this term, thanks to the summer contribution of Danvic Turf Care.

The Preston firm’s work included stripping off the top inch-and-a-half of the surface and digging out and removing soil from the goalmouths – using the material to make great strides towards levelling the pitch.

“From what I was told, a total of about 100 tonnes of soil came out of the two goalmouths and was redistributed around the pitch,” said Morgan who says the pitch is still not perfectly level but estimates an improvement of about 30 to 40 per cent across the entire surface.

After the pitch was re-laid, Morgan and Collings got busy with their crucial maintenance work from the start of June.

Morgan added: “We set out trying to achieve an aesthetically pleasing pitch and to try and have the best playing surface possible so the ball is not bobbling about.

“Because there are still a few undulations in the pitch, it’s always going to flick up a little bit. But we just try and get the pitch so the ball runs as smoothly as possible.

“It was quite difficult last season, although the top dressing that was applied last summer – when J Mallinson did the work – that helped considerably compared to when we first took over, because not a lot of money had been spent on it for a few seasons.

“It was quite bad in the areas in front of the two dug-outs. That was the worst part of the pitch. So it’s just a case of constantly working on the areas.

“The work this summer – having one-and-a-half inches taken off and the pitch being top-dressed with 80 tonnes of sand – should help.”