Melksham Town, manager, Richard Fey, says he hopes some of his new signings will be ready for the upcoming season following a spate of injuries in pre-season.
Town finished eighth last season and Richard is hoping to build on the success of last season in their new campaign which starts on Saturday.
“We’ve unfortunately lost a one of our new signings, striker Chris Zebroski, who broke his toes in the game against Mangotsfield, and we also lost centre forward Bradley Grey who broke his ankle.
“James Guthrie managed to pick up a hamstring injury at Wootton Bassett and Aaron Parsons picked up an ankle injury in the same game so we will be without them for a time as well. Bradley looks like he’ll be out for three months, but Chris should be ready for the start of the season.
“We came back to training two weeks earlier than we would have done usually as the club had arranged for us to play three football league clubs in three days with only one training session before that to get ready, so it was a challenge but one that the boys relished, I think.
“The fitness levels the boys have shown have been superb, I couldn’t have asked for more. We really just want to get stuck in with the games if I’m honest- starting pre-season earlier is great for fitness but it’s not the most exciting thing in the world!
“The league has changed since last season. I’m flabbergasted by how much money is being thrown around the league currently, we simply can’t compete with some of the wages. I’ve made enquiries with some players this season and the response I’ve gotten has been a joke. Our budget means sometimes we just can’t compete and instead we rely on developing the players we have to be the best they can be.
“I’d love for us to finish as high as we can this season, but there’s some teams in this league such as Bishops Cleeve, Totten, Frome, and Bristol Manor Farm that will be the front runners. We will do our best to improve on last year’s position and our new signings will certainly help with that.”
• Town kick off their Southern League campaign with a home game against Exmouth Town on Saturday 13thAugust.
