Herbert happy with pre-season progress
RUNCORN TOWN’S pre-season campaign got off to a great start with a 10-0 thrashing of West Cheshire League outfit Blacon Youth Club on Saturday.
They followed it up with a 5-1 defeat against National League side Chester FC on Monday evening but despite the result, overall Chris Herbert’s side put in a decent performance.
The manager was pleased with the work-rate of his players and he hopes to see similar hard-working efforts when the season kicks-off next month.
“Pre-season preparations have gone really well. Improving our fitness has been our main aim so far and the game on Monday evening was a test for me to see how we’re doing,” said Herbert.
“I was pleased with how we coped and I thought fitness-wise we did really well. There were a few mistakes made but we’ll work on them.
“That’s what pre-season is for really – we can see what we need to work on in training and make it better before the season starts.”
There were a number of familiar faces on show in Town’s opening pre-season fixtures as Craig Cairns and Kevin Exell made an impression.
Herbert also gave opportunities to some trialists and several new signings including goalkeeper Andy Metcalfe and midfielder Matty German.
“Kevin Exell is lively and he’s one that will usually start so his goal on Monday evening was a good one. There have been a few great performances,” said Herbert.
“The players will be giving me a selection headache because they’re all working hard and there’s plenty who have earned their right to play.
“Matty German signed for us this summer and I thought he was outstanding.
“His work-rate was great and I thought his reading of the game and positioning was excellent.
“He stood out for us. He was good and so was Craig Cairns but he always stands up for us. Mark Reid was another one who impressed.”
With just a handful of friendlies to play ● before the season kicks-off, Herbert hopes his players can learn from teams like Chester and develop their game even further.
He has already set out what he expects from his team and they will be aiming to be challenging for the Hallmark Security League Premier Division crown after just missing out in last campaign.
Continued Herbert: “There was no disgrace losing 5-1 to a team like Chester. They’re a strong outfit full-time and that’s the type of game we want to learn to play.
“We’ll be looking to play free-flowing football. Sometimes we overplay in certain areas and we do need to play a different type of football.
“Maybe we need to be a little bit rough at times against certain opposition but we’ll always look to produce good football.
“We’ll get that right after more work but at the moment we’re looking good and it’s still early doors in pre-season.
“I think we’ve got a really strong squad now. There’s maybe still room for a couple to strengthen things up but apart from that, I’m ready to go and we’re happy with it.”
For the record, Craig Cairns scored six of Town’s goals in the victory over Blacon with Simon Thelwell adding a hattrick and Paul McManus notching the other goal. ● TOWN were set to visit Heswall last night for their third pre-season encounter before continuing their busy July schedule this Saturday with a home game against Warrington Town (kick-off 2pm). Next Tuesday evening, Runcorn visit Colwyn Bay (kick-off 7.30pm).