August 1998 - a date he readily recalls - when he joined the club as an apprentice under Dave Roberts. In those days, home was the Dell but, in 2001, the impressive new St Mary's Stadium took over and, by then, Andy was Dave's assistant. The Dean Court spell gave him a taste of being in charge of things. When Dave left the club in December 2007, Andy was recalled to be the St Mary's pitch number one man.

In early 2011, the club created a new role of grounds manager, overseeing both St Mary's and its developing Staplewood training facility. "I've been lucky. When I've wanted to make progress, an opportunity has arisen here," says Andy, who lives a cycle ride away from Staplewood.

Pitch upkeep at the trainingmake sure there's no room for criticism."

At the moment, there's no chance of fancy mowing at St Mary's with every match critical - and likely to be so right to the wire - in the quest for a Champions League place. In the previous five years, the club has either been at the top of a league trying to go up or at the bottom trying to stay up. Last season, getting a high Premier League place was possible right to the end of the season.

With or without fancy mowing, St Mary's is a winning pitch right now, in all senses. The club keeps rattling up wins on it, and the pitch itself, last season, took the Premier League's 'Best Pitch of the Year' award, although it was