Boss looks ahead to League One opener...
AFTER what's felt like a long summer, I’m really looking forward to the new season, you can feel the build during pre season and we’re ready for it to start now.
We all appreciated the break at the end of last season. It was a long campaign with lots of highs and lows as there usually is after most seasons at this level.
I’m pleased with the players we’ve got in but I’m still looking to improve in a couple of areas before the window closes. For now though, all our attention is on Oldham Athletic and getting our season off to a winning start.
The signing of the season has been Tom Bradshaw. A 20-goal striker extending his contract is a huge coup for the football club and he looks fitter and better than he was last season.
We hope he’s over his injury worries now and we’ve got other players in Jordan Cook and Sam Mantom who are injury free going into this season as well.
As a manager you always worry about pre-season and picking up injuries but I have a selection headache now with a fully fit squad.
We’ve had chance to develop tactically over pre-season and the players are more aware of how to play different systems. We have players who are fluid and adaptable to different systems, which is a huge advantage for us this season.
Our defensive record, with the exception of a few games last season, was extremely good but we know we didn’t score enough goals. That’s something we’re confident we can put right this time around.
Our home form will be crucial. That’s been proven throughout any successful campaign. We finished the season very well at home and we have to make sure we continue in that vain because it will only help us climb the table and compete at the top level.
Oldham Athletic have a new manager in Darren Kelly and he will want to bring his own ideas in. We know one thing for sure, they’ll be well drilled and well organised with Dean Holden as his assistant. It was nice to see him back down here last season and we’ll catch up again after the game on Saturday.
Dean Smith.