ROYAL Wootton Bassett boss Sam Collier is simply hoping his new-look squad can improve on last season’s 10th-place finish when they start the new Hellenic League Premier Division campaign at Holmer Green on Saturday, writes JONATHAN LEIGHFIELD.

Bassett’s 2018-19 mid-table finish perfectly represented their inconsistencies that were, in the main, born out of unavailability and injuries, and Collier is hoping those issues can be avoided this time around.

The Bassett chief revealed he and assistant Matthew Bulman were was successful in bringing in every target he wanted over the summer, including the likes of former Forest Green Rovers goalkeeper Declan Lehmann and ex-Highworth Town forward Callum Parsons.

Collier is therefore hopeful that his core group of 17 will be able to kick on this term and secure a top-five finish.

He said: “The main aim is to finish higher than we did last season.

“We don’t know the strength of the league yet, we don’t know what it’s going to be like with a couple of new teams coming in.

“Westfields will probably be favourites for the title.

“We had targets that we wanted to achieve and last season we finished 10th, which was fantastic and a good position for the club, but we do want to kick on this season.

“If we can finish as high as possible – a top-five finish would obviously be fantastic – but we just want to improve on last year, so time will tell.”

Malmesbury Victoria start the new Division One West season at home to Swindon New College.