Daisy Hill begin their new campaign in the North West Counties League First Division North with a double-header of home games on Saturday and Monday.
Steeton are the visitors to the Ginge Power Stadium on Saturday afternoon (3pm) with league new boys AFC Knowsley following on Monday (7.45pm), and after using pre-season games to build a new squad and bed players in, Daisy manager Nicky Hunt is now focusing on making sure his side get off to a good start in the opening games.
"Pre-season, it's all about preparing, it's all about getting minutes in the legs, and moving on from that we’ve had to do a lot of tactical work this week, to make sure we're ready for the two games in three days," said Hunt.
"It’s a massive few weeks coming up, and we need to hit the ground running, not just the first two games but our first seven or eight games.
"We’ve been focusing on what we do defensively, because we can't be conceding goals like we did all the way through pre-season.
"That will stop, and it has to stop, for us to get anywhere in this league.
"The better the start you make gives you a boost for the whole season.
"Look at last year, we had three points in eight games, and that just took its toll on us, and we just didn't quite make the playoffs.
"So if you do have a good start, you've got every chance of being where you want to be at the end of the season, instead pf playing catch-up."
Saturday’s opponents Steeton have several new faces in their squad, and with AFC Knowsley being new to the league, there is an element of the unknown about what to expect from both sides, and Hunt says the focus has to be on getting his squad prepared, rather than trying to second guess the opposition strategies.
"There will be bits of information that my scouts have been seeing in pre-season games, and I'll be feeding that into the players," said Hunt.
"But at this level players don't really need info like that, they just need to know what job they've got to do on the Saturday and Monday for us, and go from there.
"We have to focus on us first and foremost.
"Steeton have got three or four players in, and they'll have let three or four players go just like we've done, but I’d expect they'll play the same way.
"It'll be a tough game, but there's always tough games in this league.
"We have to concentrate on ourselves first and foremost to get back to basics, get back to what we do best, and get the best out of the players on a match day to go and get three points."
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