Guiseley boss Mark Bower is counting on the green, green grass of home to boost his team’s hopes of promotion.

The Nethermoor pitch is currently undergoing a massive upgrade ahead of the new Conference North campaign which starts on August 9

The old pitch has been dug up and additional drains have been installed, together with a new multi-layer sub-surface of sand in a bid to avoid the problems which led to a raft of postponements early in the New Year.

Work has also taken place to level the ground and it has been completely reseeded so that the new grass has plenty of time to establish itself before Guiseley play Bradford City at Nethermoor on July 12.

With Bower keen for his side to play an attractive passing game the new pitch should prove to be an asset as they bid to win promotion to the Conference Premier.

Bower said: “The club has decided that it is important to invest in a quality pitch and we hope it will bring benefits both on and off the field.

“From my perspective, a good surface gives us the chance to play the football we like to play. We like to pass the ball around and the new pitch will be a big help.

“It was also important for the club to avoid having matches called off. The postponements we suffered at the start of the year caused us all sorts of problems.

“Attractive fixtures such as the New Year’s Day game with Harrogate Town had to be called off causing the club a loss of revenue.

“It is important to have gate receipts coming in and hopefully the new pitch and improved drainage will mean we don’t have to call games off.”

He added: “In a strange way the postponements meant we had one of the better pitches in the league at the end of the season. Ours didn’t get the punishment that others took during the bad weather and it meant we still had plenty of grass on it during the closing weeks of the season.”