Gainsborough Trinity’s season kicks into gear on Saturday, August 10, as Russ Wilcox faces his first full campaign in charge of the Holy Blues.
He described the opener, at Ilkeston Town, as a “challenging” test, but one that he feels his side is ready to face.
Speaking to The Linc, Wilcox said: “It’s going to be challenging, and it’s on 3G as well, we haven’t trained on 3G yet. We’ll do an hour on 3G this Thursday, at Roses in Gainsborough, to prepare us for what’s to come. We tackled it last season and it was difficult for us, but we’ve got to be more adaptable this year.
“I think we are more adaptable this year, and more robust. I’m really pleased with the signings we have made. It doesn’t matter where you go on the opening day, it’s going to be challenging.
Trinity did get some more experience of plastic pitches during pre-season, when they travelled to Bottesford Town.
Not Setting Lofty Targets:
“I don’t want to set targets, so the target is just to carry on in the vein we finished the season on. Football is highs and lows, twists and turns, we know that. No one has got a crystal ball, to say where you will finish,” Wilcox said.
The Gainsborough Trinity manager refused to pin his hopes on a singular target, instead aiming to carry on improving from a stellar finish to the previous campaign.
However, he did add: “But, what I will say is that if we can keep this squad fit, I think it’s stronger than last season. We’ve got a bit more quality in there, and flexibility. So, if we can keep that squad fit, I think we can be challenging top half upwards.”
Reflecting on Gainsborough Trinity’s Pre-Season:
Trinity prepared for the upcoming Northern Premier League term with a month-long slate of friendlies. It started in early July with a trip to Club Thorne Colliery, before twisting and turning its way through the rest of the month with clashes with non-league and EFL sides.
It ended last weekend, with a narrow defeat to National League newbies Boston United.
Wilcox said: “I think pre-season has been really good. The level of opposition that we managed to get games against has been really high. To play both Boston United, who’ve just got into the National League, and Scunthorpe United have been good challenges for us.”
The former Doncaster Rovers defender admitted that he had not got quite as many minutes into the legs of some key players as he would have liked, while he remains happy with the pre-season as a whole.
On the injury front, the Gainsborough boss said there were a few run-of-the-mill “niggles” within his squad. However, he added that new signing Edwin Essel has been ruled out for a “big chunk” of the season with a knee injury he sustained in the friendly against Barnsley.
The Holy Blues kick off the regular season away to Ilkeston Town on Saturday, before hosting Morpeth Town in their first home game of the term on Tuesday, August 13.
Feature Image Credit: Bryan Pye