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The Weston Homes Community Stadium has been Colchester United's home since August 2008, when the ground first opened its doors for a pre-season friendly match with Athletic Bilbao.

The 10,000 seater stadium at Cuckoo Farm, with its executive boxes, banqueting suites and unrestricted views is a world away from the U's former Layer Road home of over 70 years.

"In certain seats you couldn't see one of the goal-mouths and we joked when we first moved over here we should have some sunglasses in the club shop with lines painted across them so that people could get used to still having the pillars in front of their eyes!"

Making sure the playing surface matches it's plush surroundings is head groundsman, Dave Blacknall.

Dave explains there's much more to the job than keeping the grass trimmed and marking out the pitch.

"Obviously there's a lot of match preparation, but there's a lot more to it than that because in the summer you build your pitch that's hopefully going to take you through the winter," he explains.

"[The pitch is] the native soil of the land which was shaped into a crown. We've got drainage channels running every five metres across the pitch and then there's sand banding going up and down the pitch because it's very naturally heavy around here, so we've had to have a drainage system.

Layer Road was the U's home for over 70 years

"Then on top of that we put sand, which we blended into the clay and the final one was the fibre sand."

But does Dave miss Layer Road at all?

"When you've been somewhere for so long then you're going to miss it a bit," he admits.

"But I'm not silly enough to not know that this is a better place, so you are limited as to how much you miss it."

Making sure the players are in their best possible condition to play on Dave's pitch is Chief Physio Tony Flynn.

Since moving to the Community Stadium, Tony has had much more room to work his magic. Indeed the dressing rooms are estimated to be at least three times bigger than at Layer Road.

"We have two electro-therapy units which we use for the injured players to primarily control swelling," says Tony.

"We've also got a small area that has some trampolines which we use for our balance work, some medicine balls which are pretty standard in any rehabilitation centre and we have some Olympic weights."

However, his favourite pieces of kit are two ice making machines: "Because all injuries, for anybody whether they are elite athletes or recreational people - the best thing you can do for it is to instantly and for the next couple of days is apply ice."

Click on the 'Next' link to go further behind the scenes at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

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