Yet another accolade was added to the bulging trophy cabinet at the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium after groundsman Stuart Speirs was recognised for his hard work on Thursday.

Stuart was adjudged to be the Institute of Groundsmanship's Second Division Groundsman of the Year for 2010-11, and he picked up his award during the Scotsturf show at the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston.

It's just reward for Stuart, whose hard work and dedication over the last eighteen months has turned the playing surface at the Stadium round and regained it's reputation as one of the best in Scottish football.

When he took over as groundsman two-thirds of the way through our season in the Third Division, the pitch had been heavily impacted by a lack of maintenance and some horrendous winter weather.

Now it's a pitch for Stuart and the club as a whole to be proud of.

"I'm delighted to have picked up an award, especially because I've won it for my first full season at the club," said Stuart.

"It's fair to say that the park needed a lot of work when I came in, and since then it's a case of putting in the hours continuously, trying to improve it all the time.

"We don't have the resources to dig it up and start again, so it's been a case of doing the right things with the budget we've got."

The award is largely due to positive feedback received from the referees who officiated at the Stadium last season.

The IOG used their weekly match reports to whittle the ten clubs down to two, before choosing Stuart as the winner following an site inspection.

"It's great to be recognised, but the most important thing for me is making sure that Gary and the players have a surface that suits the way they want to play," continued Stuart.

"Towards the end of the Third Division season that was impossible but they seem to be happy with things now and I'd like to think it's played a wee part in our good home record!

"The challenge is to keep it in good condition now so hopefully the winter weather coming up will be bit kinder than it's been over the last couple of years."

As well as hosting our home matches, the Stadium has also staged a myriad of amateur cup finals as well as youth and women's internationals over the last year.

And as chief executive Ged Nixon confirmed, the decision to award the club with the honour of hosting the Ramsdens Cup final later in the season is another reflection of the good reputation of the playing surface.

He said: "The fact that we have a pitch you can play good football on has been a factor in us attracting big games to the Stadium over the last season or so.

"Stuart works hard on the park in all weathers and everyone at the club is delighted that his dedication has been rewarded."