ON THE pitch, I am very pleased with how things are going ahead of the new season. I think that Tom (Jones, assistant boss) and Mark (Collier, manager) have worked really hard in the closed season.

We’ve brought in some new players and since the guys have come back to training, they’ve worked hard with them and that’s shown in our friendlies.

Yes, we have won the games but it’s not about that. It’s the way we’ve played.

Against Weston last week, who are from a league above; no disrespect to them but we made them look very mediocre. We played good football, defensively, we kept our shape and we were strong.

The only player that’s moaned to me this summer has been Kent (Kauppinen, goalkeeper) because he’s had nothing to do.

We’ve worked well in midfield. Matt Smith has come in and done well. He works hard and nips around the field.

I am really confident and the only thing we need, which nobody can control, is a little bit of good luck.

We suffered with injuries early on last season and if we get that little bit of good luck, I’m sure we’ll do well.

This isn’t a five-minute thing. You don’t just go out there and get 15 players that will play together straight away.

It’s a long-term thing for the club and team. It’s Mark’s (Collier) third season here and now they’ve got the squad they want and the squad that can play the type of football that we want.

We’ve always said that we’ve got a hardcore group of 300 fans that come week in, week out, but on the periphery of that, there are another couple of hundred that come when you’re scoring goals and winning games and if we get back to that, I’m sure those fans will be back and more besides.

It’s going to be tough this year and there’s talk of big money being paid for players out there. There are no easy games in this league.

We’re the last club that have been in this league since its inception and have never gone up or down. With Banbury going out, we’re the only ones.

We aim to change that and obviously move up and out.