I'VE told the players in no uncertain terms that if they think they can just switch on a good performance when they feel like it, then they’ll got found out.
We didn’t perform against Highworth on Tuesday night, they were better than us on the day and were good value for their win.
It was a poor display from us and we should have the quality to overcome a Hellenic League side.
You can’t have players resting on their laurels because we’ve made that mistake in the past.
In previous seasons, we’ve come off the back of finishing in the play-off places and some of the players have forgotten about all the hard work that went in the season before. We’ve got to do our best to make sure that we carry all of that hard work on and hopefully carry on the success.
We fielded a lot of the first-team players in Tuesday’s game and also tried a few different things with formations and tactics.
Everything has to build up to our first Saturday in the leauge and it’s up to the players to do their best to cement a place in the line-up for the Hednesford Town game.
But it’s really important to keep all the players on their feet and make sure they don’t get complacent.
I’m happy with the squad I’ve got but we may have to look at bringing someone in to freshen things up.
You’re always on the lookout for good players who can improve your squad and add extra competition for places.
We’re talking to one or two people who haven’tfeatured for us in pre-season to see if they’ll be available and we’ll monitor those situations.
One big concern is also making sure that we don’t pick up any injuries because the pitches and surfaces are hard and dry at the moment, which can make things more awkward.
Scott Lye, Ashley Williams, Shaun Benison and Ashley Edenborough are all carrying little knocks that we have to monitor. We have to make sure they clear up as soon as possible.
We’ll play a strong team in our last friendly at Almondsbury on Friday but the main thing for me is to make sure that we come through that one unscathed.
Our fitness will improve as we keep on playing but it’s only really after five or six games that you really start to get into your stride and peak. It’s our last run-out before the season gets under way, so we need to eradicate the mistakes and get the organisation right. We won’t do a lot of chopping and changing against because we want to treat it like a competitive game.
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