Big guns hold no fear for Mossley

joint Mossley managers Peter Band (left) and Lloyd Morrison

Non-league footbaLL: 

TEAM spirit and togetherness will be the major ingredients in what Mossley joint-manager Lloyd Morrison hopes will be a recipe for success again this season.

Despite a number of Evo-Stik League Division One North rivals spending big in their pursuit of

promotion glory last term, the Lilywhites consistently held their own, eventually finishing sixth only two points out of the play-off positions. They also won the Manchester Premier Cup after seeing off National League North side Curzon Ashton on penalties in the final.

It’s going to be a similar scenario this season, but Morrison and his fellow

joint-manager Peter Band are relishing the prospect of going head to head with the so-called big guns with deep pockets.

Ahead of Saturday’s tricky-looking opener at Radcliffe Borough, Morrison said: “It’s going to be ridiculously hard because lots of teams are throwing money at it again.

“Witton, who have come down, are spending big, as are Trafford, who took two of our players. There’s Northwich, Warrington - who picked up shed loads of cash thanks to their FA Cup run - Spennymoor and even Bamber Bridge.

“It’ll be tough, but I’ll be honest, we’re in better shape now than we were 12 months ago, certainly team-wise and squad-wise. We shouldn’t be in the same ballpark as some of the teams we will share the division with. If you compare budgets we ought to be fighting relegation every season.

“But fortunately for us, the money doesn’t seem to matter to most players. We won’t be setting any targets, but it’s safe to say we’ll be giving it a really good go again.

“We are quietly confident we know what we’re doing. We’ve got some good people working around us, so we should be okay.”

Pre-season hasn’t gone completely to plan for the Lilywhites. A handful of last season’s players have departed and friendly fixture results have been mixed. But Morrison is focused on this weekend’s trip to Radcliffe.

The former Winsford United boss said: “We’ve lost a few players in pre-season, but there are signs of encouragement. We’ve got to try to replace those who have left because the hard part is trying to get those combinations right again, ones that served us well in the second half of last season.

“We’ve had to rebuild a midfield this summer and losing Rio Ahmadi up top hasn’t helped, but we’ve got Mitchell Bryant back and that is a huge bonus.”

twitter: @Smedders1966