Carver set for treble

Sunday's Black Country derby will be played on one of the best pitches in England, according to Wolves vice-captain Karl Henry.

See also: Send us your derby predictions

The midfielder is backing Molineux's Terry Carver to take a third Groundman of the Year award.

And Henry believes Wolves boast the best playing surface in the Championship.

"The surface here is tremendous - second to none against the ones I've played on this season," said Henry.

"It's a credit to the groundsmen - they've done a fantastic job to have it looking like this at this stage.

"It's green, unlike a lot of others in the division. We've been at a lot of grounds this season where the pitches have been awful and it's a pleasure to play here. It benefits us as players and if every pitch was like this in the Championship, it would be fantastic.

"It's lovely to play on - we try to play a passing game, so it suits us down to the ground. We've played on a few this season that have been more like parks pitches, so I'm sure teams love coming here to play on this pitch."

Carver met builders merchants Wickes yesterday to lend his support to the award, which the company is sponsoring. Carver, 64, has been tending Wolves pitches for almost 17 years and is bidding to make it a hat-trick of such awards after scooping the gong twice in 1999 and 2002 in partnership with Dave Saltman and Sportsturf.

Carver leads a team of three along with Wayne Lambard and Ken Bates looking after a total of 14 pitches at Molineux and the club's Compton training ground.

He said: "There's some good pitches around such as Coventry and Southampton, but it would be great to win again."