Jim to strengthen his squad as the season gets under way

County boss Jim Gannon says his players are in great shape on the eve of the new campaign – but he’s still looking to add more depth to the squad.

The Hatters open the season this weekend with a trip to newly-promoted Spennymoor Town, who have won every game of their pre-season schedule.

Jim said: “I’ve watched videos of Spennymoor, and they’ve played a lot of teams below them in the pyramid so they’ve had some very big wins, and obviously got goals and confidence from those results so it’ll be interesting to see if that’s prepared them for the rigours of the National League North.  They’re a very good footballing side, very fluid, and they’ve added really well over the summer, bringing in Ryan Hall and they’ve still got big Glen Taylor up front.

“They’ve got goals from all different departments of the team, so they’ll be hard to contain, plus it’s their first game at this level and they’re at home so they’re going to be fully charged. We’ve got to be really up for this game because there’ll be a tremendous atmosphere about the place.”

County concluded their own pre-season schedule on Saturday with a narrow 0-1 defeat against National League side Barrow AFC.  Jim said: “It was a tough workout, a very physical game and we’re pleased we had a lot of lads who looked very capable of 90 minutes and we came off with no new injuries. We’re obviously disappointed with the result but it was a tough game which puts us in good stead for next week.

“We all looked fit and capable, I changed the shape slightly towards the end going with three strikers, and we created more in the last ten or fifteen minutes than we did in the rest of the game, so it was a good workout and I take a lot of positives from it.”

New signing Ben McKenna made his County debut having been drafted in following an injury to Adam Thomas, who faces a nervous wait to discover the extent of the damage to his right knee.  Jim said: “You can see what Ben’s got in terms of his turn of pace, he’s a typical winger who wants to stay wide.  We need to get him to play off his shape and get into pockets and get involved in the play, but he’ll be a good addition.”

Matty Warburton will return to the squad for the opening day clash at Spennymoor having been unavailable at the weekend but a frustrated Adam Thomas looks set for a lengthy stint on the side-lines once more. Jim said: “It was bad enough for him missing the whole of last year, and God forbid it happens again, it would be a terrible blow to lose the lad who got Player of the Year award at Hednesford in 2016, but we’ve brought Ben in and we’re looking to add further players.”

Jim confirmed that he’s still looking to supplement his squad with potentially two new signings on the horizon as the season gets under way. He said: “We’re going to need a good squad especially to cope with Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday fixtures.  Last season we won our first two games but then lost the third which shows that you need to freshen things up occasionally, so a couple of extra players will give the lads a lift and give us another dimension.”

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP






    Opening Times Newsletter Signup