Dave Anderson wants Barton Town Old Boys get off to a better start this season
Dave Anderson believes Barton Town Old Boys are heading into the new Toolstation NCEL Premier Division season better prepared than last year.
Barton ironically play Thackley for the second opening day running, 12 months on from their shock 3-1 defeat to the Bradford-based outfit.
Barton went onto lose their next three league matches and ultimately their bad start cost them a place in the title race.
“What our view was that if we had got six or seven points out of the first four games then it would have put us up there,” Anderson said.
“We were always catching up and injuries caught up with us.
“We have a decent squad now with more options for rotation and we want to start in a better way.
“What I will go on record to say is that this league is getting stronger and stronger.
“I think there are eight to 12 teams who would fancy themselves to win it.
“We want to finish in the top six. We can’t compete with some teams, but we have got a good squad.
“There will be no easy games and we go to Thackley on the opening day and the one positive we can take from it is that we’re not travelling there on a Tuesday night.
“The difference to last year to now is that we have changed pre-season so that we had two games to look at everyone before narrowing the numbers down.
“It has meant we have working together for longer which means we have gelled quicker.
“The other problem last year was that we had players on holiday for the first few games.
“We should have everyone available for the first game this year so that is a plus.”