Town's Alan Ferguson has picked up his now annual Championship Groundsman of the Year award. This is the third season in succession that the Blues' top turfster has received the gong.

Ferguson told the club site that despite winning the honour he hasn't been happy with this season's surface: "To be fair, it's probably the poorest quality pitch that we have won the award with.

"The judging panel said that the very low temperatures we have had in this country through the winter have caused problems up and down the country and they actually had to build that into their equation when deciding the marks.

"The total mark was broken down into 40 per cent from the referee, 30 per cent from the visiting manager and 30 per cent on the final judging day with the pitch being inspected close up.

"We're obviously delighted to have won the award again, but it won't disguise the fact that we know we have issues to sort out to improve the pitch and we'll continue to look for the best answers to those problems."

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