Market Drayton Town kick off their 2008-09 season in the Midland Alliance on Saturday with boss Simon Line insisting they can mount a title challenge.
Town host Oadby Town on Saturday having completed their pre-season preparations with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Welsh Premier League side Aberystwyth last weekend.
And Line said he was confident that Drayton can push for promotion after a successful 2007-08 season which only saw them miss out on promotion on the final day.
He said: “I always have belief in my squad, I make a point of that and I’m sure we can challenge again.
“It was a bit of surprise last season because I think we did out perform ourselves a little bit, but I am sure we can do it again. It will be twice as hard for us this term because teams will be more aware of what we can do but I think we can be up there challenging.”
The confidence gained from Town’s impressive showing in a 3-2 Shropshire Senior Cup semi final defeat to Shrewsbury last month has given the squad a huge morale boost heading into the new season.
And Line added that the players are raring to go.
He added: “We are ready for the new season. I have added to the squad which did so well last term and we have been training hard. We will be putting a few finishing touches to things before the weekend so we can get off to the best possible start.”
But with almost a team of players unavailable for the opening fixtures of the season due to holidays, work commitments and injury Line is hoping that the squad will be strong enough to get the right result on Saturday.
“We have eight or nine players out for Saturday due to a variety of things so the team will almost pick itself. The first couple of weeks will be like that for us because of holidays but I hope everyone else is in a similar situation.”
And he confirmed that it was unlikely any new faces would be added to the ranks in the near future.
“I like to get all my players in before the season starts and in plenty of time through the summer so the new faces can have pre-season to bed in.
“Obviously I won’t rule anything out and never say never but if a quality player becomes available we will look into it. But I would say most of our transfer activity is completed for now.”
On paper Town start as favourites for Saturday’s match against opponents Oadby who finished a lowly seventeenth last season.
The match is a 3pm kick off at Greenfields with a good crowd anticipated for the first fixture of the season.
Town then travel to Biddulph Victoria on Tuesday night with kick off at 7.45pm.
