Dave Edwards: Mud glorious mud! How I loved Shrewsbury Town's Gay Meadow in the wet

It got me reminiscing about games off at the old Gay Meadow and just what that pitch was like between November through until February and March – it was awful!

And it would get even worse after that, because it hardened up and there was no grass left on it! At the end of the season it would be bare, bouncy and bobbly.

I used to love the Christmas period into January. I look back and we’d pick up all of our points in that time. You’d see players turn up, they’d come to look at the pitch – those who didn’t want to mess up their trainers – and their hearts would sink.

We knew then we had them, they didn’t want to be there. We knew how to play that pitch and play percentages. It was a huge, massive advantage. We might have been cut adrift before that period and then be comfortably mid-table, it was that much of a game-changer for us.

I’m pretty sure we had Chester at home. Everyone thought the game would be off, the river was up. We hadn’t heard anything so went along at 1pm, walked down the tunnel and there was Gary Peters with what I can only explain as the world’s biggest roller – imagine one surfacing an actual road – with a handle and attached a huge piece of sponge.

Gary was rolling it up and down on his own, marching either way, he’d get to the end and remove this big sponge, squeeze all of the contents out, and start again. It was quite a sight. He was that desperate to get the game on. I remember the officials inspecting the pitch. He’d be right next to them the whole time saying “no, that’s fine” as they’re squelching in the mud.

We won that day, obviously, and the opposition weren’t happy about it.

I even remember experiences as a kid, you see the river come up and you’d want to go to the ground to see how bad it was.

In my YTS days we’d be on duty stacking sandbags to keep the dressing rooms clear.

There was nothing better than coming off that pitch with a win covered head to toe in Gay Meadow mud. I used to absolutely love it, it was brilliant. A different type of football to now, but fans still enjoyed a tear-up in winter.

There were other bad pitches and stadiums, don’t get me wrong, but for how soft and muddy it was that time of year, our place was comfortably the worst. You’d need the longest possible studs, Gary Peters wouldn’t have otherwise.

There were patches you would sink in the mud – and I know it was even worse if you go back another generation to the 70s and 80s.

Any new signings we had would be prepared for it. Back at the old Sundorne training base we’d be shut out of there from October or November because that was waterlogged, so we’d be training indoors at SCAT or wherever.

It was strange because the worst games for me personally were at the end of the season because the grass couldn’t recover as it all dried out and it was so hard!

There are the classic pictures of when it would actually properly flood, the groundsman and others in the coracle. It’d come from the far left corner as you walk out the tunnel and it’d creep across the pitch. It was mental. There’d be a lot of games off – but if there was any chance of getting them on, then they’d be on.

Anyway, focusing back on the here and now – it’s a really crucial part of the season for all teams. This is the time when you gain momentum or slide the other way.

There’s everything to play for, no team in the league that hasn’t really got anything on the line.

Portsmouth visit the Meadow tomorrow and they are very much in that category. I think they’ll be disappointed with their season, big things were expected, but they’ve picked up a couple of wins.

They’re 11 points outside the play-offs but with a lot of games in hand. They will know they need to extend this run and arrive tonight knowing they have a right chance of putting something together.

I remember last year behind closed doors, they played us off the park to lead 2-0 at half-time and were very impressive. They still have a top squad full of quality. It’s tough, but Town can pick up big results when they need to, hopefully they can get a goal and take the game to Pompey to get back to winning ways.