Award-winning Town groundsman Alan Ferguson says the Portman Road pitch will be in its usual perfect condition on Saturday, despite this week's sub-zero temperatures. The former Rangers turfsman admits to some concerns earlier in the week but the worries ultimately proved groundless.

Ferguson, who is yet to have a game postponed in 13 years with the club, told the club site: "We had one or two anxious moments at the start of the week and it's not ideal conditions for pitch preparation obviously, but the team have worked hard and everything will be fine for the weekend.

"We have a very detailed weather forecast available to us at the club. We have to have hour-by-hour, very accurate information on temperatures, snow falls, heavy rain - that sort of thing.

"The cover system that we use has worked well again. We pumped up the covers on Wednesday and started fanning the warm air across the pitch to thaw it out in time for the game.

"We did some exercises with the cover when we bought it so as to know what works and what doesn't. A couple of years back we deliberately allowed the pitch to freeze down to an inch and then timed how long it took for the cover system to thaw it out, and it worked out at around 36 hours.

"We took the covers off at around 11am last Saturday for the FA Cup game and it will probably be the same this time, depending on the temperatures forecasted.

"The game will definitely be on though, and the pitch is in pretty good condition. There was plenty of give in it last week and the referee was very complimentary."

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