15 August 2008

I can’t wait for the season to get underway tomorrow as I think the game against Heybridge will be an important measure of how far we have come since the end of last season.

Obviously we had the disappointment of losing in the away fixture at Heybridge after Pat Mullin failed to tell us he was injured and Lee Shearer had to play in goal. Then, in the return game, when we had it in our grasp to almost guarantee our safety in the division, we blew it. I think the lads froze that day but we are a totally different proposition now. If you look at our current squad, only six players remain from last season and the players we have brought in bring a wealth of experience.

This week in training we have been working on our finishing. I think we look strong all over the pitch so we wanted to concentrate on putting the ball in the back of the net. Meshach Nugent will be unavailable tomorrow because he has a slight injury but to be honest, there is no rush to bring him into the side as we have Lloyd Blackman, Andy Martin, James Pinnock and Keelan Mooney who can play up front and in that respect, we have never been in such a good position.

With regards to our hopes for the coming season, all I will say at the moment is our immediate priority is to ensure we don’t end up in the same situation as last year where we are having to scrap for our lives at the wrong end of the table. However, with the squad that we have assembled this summer I would hope that we will be looking to feature towards the top end of the division.