Stocksbridge Park Steels manager Chris Hilton wants to see his side’s home record improve
Stocksbridge Park Steels have the ideal chance to make a start on one of Chris Hilton’s main targets tomorrow.
Stocksbridge struggled to find their feet on home territory last season so the visit of Market Drayton Town for the first round of Evo Stik Division One South fixtures represents a good opportunity to begin their aim of making Bracken Moor a fortress.
Their home form at Bracken Moor was a nightmare for Hilton, who famously guided Worsbrough Bridge to an unbeaten home record during the 2012-13 season.
Hilton told Non League Yorkshire: “Our home record picked up towards the end and that is something we need to continue.
“You need to win your home games and pick up points – that’s a given.
“Our away record wasn’t too bad in the sense that we picked up points away from home, but our home record has to be improve.
“It was frustrating to see our home record last year, but you have to be realistic.
“It took me two years to set that team up at Worsbrough and in the third year we went undefeated at home.
“Don’t get me wrong, that record won’t be done again and I’ll never do it again.”
Hilton is entering his second term as Stocksbridge boss and finishing far higher than 17th is the plan.
With almost everyone from the end of last season signed on and seven new signings – including latest recruits goalkeeper David Reay and left-back Dan Vinten, Hilton is hopeful of a good season.
“The first aim is to do better than the previous season,” he added.
“The personal aim for myself is that we need to be around tenth in the league.
“That’s the aim we have with the budget. We will try to push on to do better, but you have to be realistic because there is a lot of money being thrown about in our league.
“We’re trying to set up a certain brand of football and we’re not quite there yet and we know that.
“We know we still have a lot of work to do, but I’m hoping that people can see the improvement from the start of last season to now.
“The strides we have made have been massive, but we know we need to make bigger strides to push on.”