Peters lines up strong rivals to test Bacup
BACUP Borough have already finalised their preparations for the 2022/23 season with four pre-season games scheduled in the month of July.
On Friday 1st July at 7.45pm Borough kick start their pre-season at home to North West Counties Premiership side Avro FC with further home fixtures scheduled against Chorley FC and Winsford United, before travelling to South Yorkshire for their only away fixture against Penistone Church.
The game against Andy Preece’s Chorley FC will most certainly be a test for the Borough, with Chorley expected to bring a strong squad. This game will be played on Tuesday 5th
July with a 7.45pm kickoff.
Winsford United will make a welcome return to the Brian Boys Stadium on Saturday 16th July having been a part of Borough’s pre-season build up last time around.
And yet again will be a stern test for the Division One North side. And they will wrap up the pre-season against Penistone Church on Saturday 23rd July.
Discussing the up and coming games with the manager Brent Peters, he said: “I’m not the biggest fan of pre-season friendlies if I’m being honest.
“It does give the players valuable game time after a break, but you can find that a few of them will go hiding in these fixtures, which is one of the reasons why we only ever have a maximum of four build up games, with the rest of the time being spent working with David Felgate and Jimmy Petruzzi, the conditioning coach.
“Last season we had one of, if not the fittest teams in the league in my opinion.
“A lot of that was down to Jimmy Petruzzi and the players working together and having a professional attitude to work on their own personal fitness away from the club.”
Peters also spoke about the game selections for pre-season.
“We played Avro FC in the Macron Cup and they gave us a really strong game,” he said.
“They have fantastic players with good technical ability and we’ve also built up a good relationship with them off the field. As for Chorley, this will be our biggest test. I’ve known Andy Preece for a long time and the fact that this team plays in the Vanarama National League tells you everything you need to know about this one.
“Winsford United, they’re also a good strong unit that plays in the North West Counties Premier and gave us a real battle last pre-season.
“Our final game is an away trip to Penistone Church.
“We played them in the FA Vase last season and it was a thriller of a match.
“So I wanted to make sure it was going to be a test for our lads throughout the pre-season.
“No disrespect to some of the other clubs we’ve been approached by, but we need to be playing against strong opposition. Our lads need testing in order to be ready for the start of the season which I believe will kick off on the 30th July.”
There could be one or two new faces on show for Borough by the time the warm up games come round and the manager admitted he was looking to complement his talented young group with some experience.
“Of course we’ve been constantly looking to strengthen in certain departments,” he said.
“David Felgate and myself are always looking to improve and we have highlighted a few that fit our mould.
“I would say that we need a bit more experience in the ranks and that is where we’re searching.”