Upbeat boss Lewis Thorogood reckons his side are in a much stronger position than they were a year ago as they prepare for the start of the new Uhlsport UCL Premier Division North season on Saturday.
The Knights are huge underdogs in the season opener against much fancied Loughborough Students at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field (3pm), with Thorogood admitting that everybody is expecting his side to be struggling at the bottom of the table once again.
He’s not concerned by what anybody else thinks, though. After a largely impressive pre-season and some quietly impressive recruitment, the Pinchbeck chief feels his side are well placed to improve on last season’s performance.
But he does accept that it’ll be tough for his charges against a Loughborough side that finished 45 points and 13 places ahead of the Knights – who were handed a relegation reprieve – last time around.
“I’m happy with where we are,” said Thorogood. “Player-wise and pre-season wise, we’re in a much better position than before the start of last season.
“Of course, ask any manager if they’d like more players, the answer will always be yes. But we’ve been realistic in our recruitment – plus it’s very hard to attract players to Pinchbeck.
“The start of the season couldn’t be much harder, I expect Loughborough to be up there in the top three.
“Truthfully, there are no easy games this season. So we need to understand that and get on with playing our own game. If we focus on looking after our own business, we’ll be fine.
“We accept there will be tough days in this league, but it’s where we want to be. The lads that have stayed learned a lot from last season and we’ve brought players in to build on that.
“Our season won’t be defined by Saturday’s game and if we carry the form of our recent pre-season games into the game, we’ll be in with an outside chance.”
Indeed, Pinchbeck concluded their pre-season schedule with an impressive 6-2 victory over Huntingdon Town at Knight Street on Saturday and also drew 1-1 with Wyberton last Wednesday night.
In the past week the Knights have also announced a string of players, both new and old, who have committed themselves to the squad for the new season.
Perhaps the biggest signing is former Peterborough Sports striker Avi Vieira, who had a loan spell with Pinchbeck last season.
Joe Melson, Alex Smith, Nathan Stevens, Joe Cottingham, Dan Worthington, Neal Spafford, Niall Parsons and Elliot Foster have all either signed or agreed to stay, too.
Pinchbeck also host Wisbech Town on Wednesday night (7.45pm).
