A new campaign brings fresh hope

Mossley Joint managers (l-r) Peter Band and Lloyd Morrison

THE hard graft on the training pitch has been done and now it's down to the Mossley players to show exactly what they've got as the new Evo-Stik League Division One North campaign gets under way tomorrow.

The Lilywhites head north to Kendal Town for their first fixture, seemingly well prepared.

Joint bosses Peter Band and Lloyd Morrison have recruited a clutch of new faces ­- and are still in the market for more ­- having initially begun planning for the 2017-18 campaign well before the end of the last one.

Band said: "Lloyd and I started thinking about this season around last February time.

"Once we lost Andy Keogh and Mike Fish after the new year we knew there would be big spaces to fill in the squad.

"We feel we've done that now with the squad we have at our disposal, and we can't wait for Saturday.

"Summer has gone really well. We're having trouble getting the lads off the training pitch at the moment!

"That certainly wasn't the case this time last year ­- we are in a much better place than we were this time 12 months ago."

The Lilywhites have only been beaten once during a hectic pre-season fixture schedule ­- 4-2 at home to Stalybridge Celtic when they had been 2-0 up. So confidence is high that a huge improvement will be visible this term.

Last season saw Mossley in a constant battle to steer themselves away from the relegation zone. They only guaranteed themselves safety with a couple of games to go.

"It's been relentless really," added Band.

"But the hard work really does start now. It's going to be tough again, it always is in this league, as some clubs like Scarborough and Trafford are splashing the cash again.

"We've had a really good chat with the lads, though, and we've got to look up the table. Hopefully we can get minimum top 10 this season.

"We've got a good squad in place, but we're always looking for more.

"Once players are not getting games in the opening couple of games of the season they'll soon become available again."

Mossley follow up tomorrow's trip to Kendal with a home game against Colne on Tuesday.