The pitch at Harpenden Town was once compared to a cow pat - but not anymore.

Rothamsted Park has undergone something of a transformation with a new artificial surface and pitch surrounds, removing the grass banks and replacing them with terracing.

And after six months of away games, the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division side have made a glorious return, beating Dunstable Town 4-0 on Saturday in front of more than 400 before battling to a 2-1 win over Potton United on Tuesday night.

But chairman Roman Motyczak believes this is only the start.

"I’m absolutely delighted to get it finished it," he said. "It looks outstanding for our level of football and the level beyond. 

"We now have the facilities to match the club's ambition and it is a game changer for the town as well as the club.

"Everyone says Harpenden isn’t a football town but there’s 30,000 people in Harpenden, four secondary schools and more than enough footballers.

"A lot of them play elsewhere but hopefully these facilities will get them to come back here and play here. 

"I think the town is big enough for step four and step three football."

Part of the reason for the pitch was not just to get away from the undersoil conditions, plenty of clay and a high water table regularly leaving it waterlogged, but to also get the youngsters in the town playing more.

Which is where Harpenden Colts come in.

Motyczak said: "Getting the Colts on board will give us a core support from underneath and will give the youth a pathway into adult football. 

"That's going to help us and build us as a better and stronger club." 

The facilities though look like big the lasting legacy of Motyczak's time at the helm, as despite the clubhouse being earmarked as the next big task, he is thinking about stepping aside.

"I think that might be someone else's little project," he said. "My time is coming to an end.

"I’ve done 10 years and I can leave them with this. It's been a lot of hard work and I couldn't have done it without the support of my family.

"Even on Saturday, my two daughters jumped in to help behind the bar to get everyone served and then my wife and daughter went to Sainsbury's to buy some more stock because we just ran out 

"Without them, I couldn’t have done half of what we’ve done. 

"[I want to thank] everyone else, of course, but particularly the family. They've sort of been football widows."

He also said with the pitch in place, some of the focus can turn to the playing side, with a tilt at the play-offs and more being high up on the bingo card.

Manager Micky Nathan though says his players will have to come to grips with the new pitch very quickly.

He said: "We need to make sure that we’re turning up with the right attitude, mentally and physically.

"Players are going to have to massively improve their recovery after playing on it as it takes its toll, especially when we've got five home games on the bounce. 

"But it's a lovely surface. 

"We went to Hertford Town last year to play St Panteleimon and when we came away, we all said that we couldn’t wait to get on our own surface.  

"We've got to learn to play on it. I think training on it on a weekly basis is going to help, but then the players need to learn that it's not all always going to be pretty football. 

"We will need to kick, block and bite at times."