Chairman Geoffrey Richmond is hoping for a dry spell in the coming weeks to give Bradford City's much-maligned playing surface time to recover.

The Valley Parade pitch has deteriorated badly in the last few weeks and although City have won 11 out of their last 12 home games, the state of the surface is causing concern.

The club have been in close contact with sports turf experts this season but Richmond says not a lot can be done to improve things in the short-term.

He said: "We really need a prolonged spell of dry weather because we have had so much rain recently that the pitch has a lot of water in it.

"I would like to see how high the water table is at the moment. If we have a dry spell then the pitch will be in much better condition when we next play at home in two weeks."

City have enlisted the help of Yorkshire CCC in the last few days by using the cricket club's water hog to try to clear the excessive amounts of water.

Richmond believes thousands of gallons have been cleared this week by groundsman Dave Bedford, who slept at the ground on Friday night to ensure the Crewe match went ahead.

Meanwhile, City have sold 3,000 tickets for the screening of the Newcastle FA Cup tie this weekend with Richmond predicting around double that crowd on Saturday.

The club have announced that the screen will be positioned on the Kop instead of the pitch and as a result, tickets are also now available in the Ciba Stand.

Prices for the Ciba Stand are the same as for the Sunwin - £8 (adults), £5 (senior citizens) and £2 (children). Tickets are also available for the Symphony Stand priced £7 (adults), £4 (senior citizens) and £1 (children).

The City chief said: "We will have around 7,000 places and tickets will be available on the day. Newcastle United programmes will be available at Valley Parade from 9am and from 1.30pm, the big screen will be showing a highlights package from this season."

City reserves provided a good omen for Saturday's tie when they beat Newcastle United reserves 2-0 yesterday. Scorers were Gareth Grant and Craig Ramage.

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