Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

Independence Park Limited's general manager, Major Desmond Brown, expects smooth sailing from now on, as it relates to the upkeep of the National Stadium football pitch, following the purchase of maintenance equipment.

"We don't expect the field to ever be in the state that it was in the other day. Previously, we have had to borrow equipment ... and it is an expensive process," Brown told reporters on a tour of the facility yesterday.

"We have recently purchased our own equipment, so we can do our own maintenance work on it regularly," he said.

The project which is not the first refurbishing job at the facility is said to cost somewhere in the region of $1 million. A tour of the pitch yesterday by members of the media and a team of Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) officials, saw the field in much improved condition, a far cry from the state which led to open criticism by then technical director René Simoes in August.

" It's not 100 per cent as yet. We had a little bit of setback with the rain washing off the surface, but we have a few more treatments to go and it is looking good," Brown told the group yesterday.

That comes as good news for interim national coach Theodore Whitmore who, along with the rest of the JFF contingent and members of the media, seemed to have doubts about the pitch being perfect for the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying game against Mexico on October 11.

"Well, looking at it so far, I would say there is still a lot of work to be done by the 11th," Whitmore said.

"We have, however, been assured that it will be ready by then, so we will have to wait and see," he said.