Daisy Hill manager Nicky Hunt will have a chance to see new members of his revamped squad in action for the first time when they travel to face Atherton LR this coming Saturday.
The game at Crilly Park is the first of seven pre-season games that Daisy have arranged in the run-up to the start of the new league season, and since last season’s campaign ended in mid-April, Hunt has been planning for the new season.
"This past eight weeks has given me time to think about things, where we want to go and what we want to do," said Hunt.
"It's just consistency with us, I think.
"We had two excellent spells last season.
"We went unbeaten for two months and then later on we went up eight or nine games unbeaten as well.
"We've just got to take the positives out of those two sequences and see if we can put it right for the majority of the season, just like Nelson and Droylsden did last year, as that's what got them out of the division."
A number of close-season player departures to clubs in higher leagues has meant some recruitment has been needed, but Hunt is happy with the way in which the squad is shaping up for the upcoming warm up games.
"Obviously, I've had to bring in some new recruits because a few players have left, but that's just football," said Hunt.
"As a manager, that's what you've got to deal with and that's what my job is to do, to go and recruit better players if we can, to get out of this league.
"I've had to trim the new group down to about 18 to 20, so I’ve got two tens, two elevens, and a back up goalkeeper, and from there I can have two squads, essentially.
"There’s a bit of a mix in terms of the pre-season fixtures.
"We’ve got seven really good friendlies coming up, and that'll test everyone out fitness wise, and we'll see where everyone's at.
"I didn't want to overload them or have them travelling an hour and a half just for a friendly so that's why I kept it so local for the games.
"Everything's about fitness first of all and going on from that.
"Maybe a couple of players will play in different positions, just to let me see how versatile they are, because we do need players that can play a variety of positions.
"But I'm going to go with five or six subs in each game.
"The majority of players will play 60 to 75 minutes (on Saturday games) and then the subs will come on and play half an hour or so and then we'll flip it on the Tuesday night games.
"In the last two or three pre-season games, I'll be looking to get my first 11 out in those games to see how they bond and how they go on together, and that'll lead us to the first league game on 1st August."
In the meantime, work has been going on to prepare for the first warm-up game at Crilly Park, and Hunt believes that the squad will be ready to go.
"We worked last week and Thursday this week, giving a bit of thought on how we want to play," said the Daisy boss.
"Early games are about how we perform fitness wise and quality wise, I’m not bothered about results.
"I want to be focused on the way I want to play this year, knowing what we need to get out of the league, and being prepared for that first league game.
"Atherton LR did ever so well last year, just missing out on the play-offs in the Premier Division, and playing them on Saturday will help us see where we need to be and see the standard we need to aim for.
"It's the first game for them too, so they'll probably be trying a few things as well.
"A lot of stuff's going on behind the scenes at the club at the moment, and these next 18 months will be key, and I’m happy to be a part of it and ready to get going."
Daisy’s full pre-season schedule: Saturday, July 4 – Atherton LR (away), Tuesday, July 7 – Tempest United (away), Saturday, July 11 – Euxton Villa (away), Tuesday, July 14 – CMB (away), Saturday, July 18 – Bolton Wanderers B (home), Tuesday, July 21 – Charnock Richard (home), Saturday, July 25 – Hindsford (home).
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