First Team Coach Simon Walton has been impressed with the way the new look Hawks squad have settled in. 

Walton is pleased that the team has gelled ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s trip to AFC Totton in the first fixture of this year’s pre-season programme. Snows Stadium is the destination for the first game of the new campaign, and with all that’s recently gone on it has been a relief to go back to some kind of normality. 

He said: “It’s been quite good (returning to training), it’s no secret that we’ve had some turnover of players the last few weeks. The first few sessions is all about players being integrated into the squad – but it’s been a very positive start. It’s a longer pre-season that perhaps the players are used to, but with the situation that preceded us we thought it was a good idea to bring the lads back in early and build them in gradually.”

“As a new season starts the optimism in and amongst the camp is high along with a competition for places. The game will be a real mixture of our own players and players we want to look at. We have had players who played in the play-offs and won’t need the game time that early because we know what they’re about. 

“It’s going to be a good exercise for us, like the old cliche ‘you can train all you want’ but until you get on that pitch in a 11 v 11 competitive arena you can never really judge anyone. 

“There will be lads in there looking to prove a point and it’s going to be a competitive squad where players will be competing for places and that starts from now and it leads to a better squad and a better feel. They know they have to perform and work hard in pre-season to get that shirt come the first game of the season which we’re all aiming towards.”