Boss- So Far, So Good
Kevin Dillon is happy with progress so far after his side return from their pre-season week at Millfield School in good spirits on the back of two friendly fixtures. This week will see a visit to Blue Square Conference South neighbours Basingstoke Town on Wednesday evening followed by an attractive visit of Championship side Bristol City to the EBB Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Boss Dillon spoke to The Shots Online immediately after the 4-0 success at Zamaretto Southern League side Didcot Town where Danny Hylton netted a hat-trick and explained that everything is moving along nicely.
He said, "The purpose of the training at Millfield was accomplished. The lads interacted well with each other and trained hard too. All in all it was a decent week where we have made progress exactly as Gary (Owers) and I would have liked.
"Millfield is an excellent facility and it is certainly a venue that we would use again for the same purpose. In addition to first class conditions the staff couldn't have been more helpful and we are so grateful to everybody."
With regard to his playing squad the boss confirmed that any player that did not feature at Didcot was purely down to them having a slight strain. He continued, "There is no way that any player would be risked at this stage of pre- season if he is not right. There is no point in doing that. The target at the moment is for the majority of the lads to get 45 minutes or so and, due to the situation with some of the lads who have slight injuries, there were a couple of players who completed the full 90 minutes too.
"I expect it to be the same at Basingstoke Town on Wednesday evening. In addition to the settled squad who are coming on nicely there are still opportunities for some of the lads that are on trial to have another chance at The Camrose as we are still seeking to strengthen the squad. None of those players did themselves any harm at Didcot and are still in the frame but we will need to make decisions soon.
"We have also had the experience of players such as Glen Little and Scott Murray during pre-season and it is only to be expected that they will receive other offers too. Whatever the outcome we will need to know one way or the other soon in order to start finalising our completed squad with Accrington Stanley now less than three weeks away."
After the Basingstoke match boss Dillon will then focus on the visit of Bristol City to the EBB Stadium. This is an exciting fixture that will pair him up with his former manager at Reading, Steve Coppell who took over at the Championship club earlier in the summer. In addition to Shots supporters getting the opportunity to view players from a side that finished in the Championship play-off final in 2008/09 and 10th last season they will also get the chance to view the likes of Jamie Vincent, Darren Jones, Luke Guttridge and Manny Panther on home turf for the first time.
