June/July 2012

When the players returned from their break on the 25th of June, two new faces had already been brought in. Two strikers; 28-year-old journeyman Richard Offiong and 28-year-old former Ireland youth international Denis Behan both joined the club on free transfers. They were brought in to act as more-than-capable competition for Ryan Charles and Lewis Alessandra, who were both so good last year. The fixture list for the coming season had also been revealed; we started with two home games, the first against fellow ex-Blue Square North outfit Southport, and the second against cash-strapped Stevenage. This was followed by an away trip to Wales to play Wrexham.

Our first friendly came in the second week of July against League Two side Morecambe. The two new boys started on the bench, but came on at half time; Richard Offiong scoring the third in a 3-0 victory.

Steve Jagielka, Aidan Sherlock, Jack Watkins, Daniel Cable and Craig Gott were released on free transfers on the 1st of July, after their contracts had expired. Two more transfers were made after the Morecambe game; Right Back Max Wragg and Defensive Midfielder Lewis Montrose were both signed on frees, the latter coming in after an impressive trial, shortly before the next fixture at home to West Brom, our parent club. We ended up losing 9-0 on the day, although my excuse is I fielded a weakened side, which I did. Anyway, it was only a friendly. Lewis Alessandra strained his groin after coming on as a substitute, an injury which would see him miss the rest of the pre-season.

Australian Goalkeeper Alex Cisak and Michael Noone, a former Glenn Hoddle Academy player, were signed on free transfers and went straight into the side to face Stourport, our feeder club. We won the game 4-0, with goals from Ryan Charles, Denis Behan, Danny Carey-Bertram and Barry Madden (own goal).

We were on the receiving end of the same scoreline just three days later, against League One side Oxford United, but got back to winning ways against Taunton, where we won 2-0 thanks to goals from Richard Offiong and Denis Behan. The scoreline flattered our opposition though really; we had a total of 20 shots to their 4, so they were lucky to have only conceded two.

Our penultimate friendly came against the Glenn Hoddle Academy, in which we won 5-1, in a very convincing victory. Danny Carey-Bertram continued his impressive pre-season form by bagging two goals and the Man of the Match award. Netan Sansara and Denis Behan's brace completed the scoring.

Sheffield Wednesday were our final opponents before the competitive games began. We were holding them to a goalless draw until 15 minutes before the final whistle when they broke the deadlock, and then with two minutes to go, scored another to seal the win. An encouraging, if not disappointing game.

A bit of a mix-and-match pre-season in terms of results, as I'm sure you'll agree. I'm happy with the players I've brought in, although we could maybe do with a centre back to act as cover for Graham Coughlan (incidentally, the new club captain) and Adrian Nevins. I was surprised to see that we were tipped as promotion contenders at 14-1. Well, the bookies are rarely wrong, are they? Bring on the Blue Square Premier!