Sports & Stadia installed the MacLeod Cover to protect the pitch at Lincoln City’s LNER Stadium ahead of the club’s Sky Bet League One fixture against Peterborough United, live on Sky Sports+ at 12pm on Sunday 4th January 2026.
A UK-wide freeze puts winter fixtures at risk
The match came in the middle of one of the UK’s coldest spells of the winter. An Arctic airmass pushed south over the New Year, bringing widespread frost, ice and snow across large parts of the country, with temperatures in some regions well below average for early January.
The impact on the football calendar was significant. By matchday, the cold snap had forced the postponement of 16 EFL fixtures nationwide, including every scheduled League Two match that weekend and a Championship fixture between Sheffield United and Oxford United. Clubs across three divisions lost fixtures to frozen, unplayable surfaces.
How the MacLeod Pitch Cover kept LNER Stadium playable
Lincoln City’s pitch was one of the few in the country to avoid that fate. As part of Sports & Stadia’s ongoing pitch protection work with the EFL, the MacLeod Pitch Cover, a raised, heated semi-automated cover, was deployed over the LNER Stadium surface for the days and nights leading up to kick-off.
Unlike a flat cover laid directly on the grass, the MacLeod Cover’s raised design incubates heat over the pitch, using its sophisticated Fan Unit to generate heated airflow and enclose it over the playing surface, protecting against frost from above and below. That distinction mattered on a weekend when several clubs elsewhere reported covers failing to prevent freezing despite being in place overnight. Lincoln’s pitch passed inspection and the match went ahead as scheduled.
Lincoln City 5-2 Peterborough United
In front of 9,833 fans, Lincoln City ran out 5-2 winners, with goals from Reeco Hackett-Fairchild, Freddie Draper, Tendayi Darikwa (2) and Adam Reach. It was a result that formed part of the run that ultimately saw the Imps crowned League One champions for the 2025-26 season, meaning the pitch protected by the MacLeod Cover that weekend went on to host title-winning football.
In Pictures...
”Thanks to Chris Vaughan Photography, we received some stunning images and drone footage of the MacLeod Cover in situ at LNER Stadium.
