View from the Reds

New faces, new hopes, new season

Pre-season preparations continue in earnest here at the Interlink Express Stadium.  The end of last season saw the departure of a number of players, many of whom had been at the club for some time and will be missed by supporters and staff alike.

However such is the nature of football.  Already several players have been brought in as replacements, with one or two more still to arrive ahead of the new season which starts for us on 13th August with a home match against Canvey Island.

Hopefully a good result in our opening game will set us in good stead for a short trip to newly promoted Altrincham on the following Tuesday. We then travel to face another side new to the Conference, Cambridge, who were relegated from the Football League at the end of last season.

This season we will once again participate in the LDV Vans Trophy, with the first round taking place in October.  Last year we had a great result in the first round, seeing off Coca Cola League One side Bradford City before narrowly losing to Oldham Athletic in the second round.  Our FA Cup campaign starts once again at the fourth qualifying round stage, on the Saturday after the LDV opening fixture.  Obviously this year we will be looking to make amends for the disappointing result against Leigh RMI last season.  Although we never budget for income from cup competitions, a run in the FA Cup can certainly help to raise revenue for the club!

There will be no Conference Cup this season which I am sure will be welcomed by many, even though we reached the regional final last season the competition had little support from the teams involved and undeniably interfered with the league campaign.  We will however be competing in the FA Trophy and defending the Lancashire FA Marsden Challenge Trophy.

Before all this we have two more home friendlies, on Wednesday 3rd August we welcome Premiership side Wigan Athletic to the Interlink Express Stadium, before rounding off the pre-season fixtures with the visit of Stalybridge Celtic on Saturday 6th August.