JR Cleator Cup preview

The traditional season opener for the Ebac Northern League takes place at Dunston UTS tomorrow night, and it’s not quite the line-up that was expected.

The game will now be between Dunston – the winners of last season’s Brooks Mileson Memorial League Cup – and Shildon who finished third.  Kick-off is at 7.30pm.

At the weekend Shildon offered to step in to play the game, with Marske unable to field a team of registered players.

Shildon manager Daniel Moore has had to make a quick re-adjustment to his plans for the squad this week.  Some of his players had already made other arrangements for tomorrow night – giving others a chance to make their mark.   The club had also set up a yoga session for players which has now been scrapped.

“It’s a competitive pre-season match and it’s better than another training session.

“The game gives me a chance to look at some of the lads who might not have been involved as much as they would have liked.  It gives them a chance to put themselves in the frame for the opening league match.”

He set up some tough pre-season games against Sunderland u23s and Hartlepool Utd.  “I’m pleased with the amount of commitment and effort shown by the lads.  The squad is much younger than two years ago and as a club we want to give a young players a platform to build on and progress their career in football.”

He predicts up to seven or eight teams will be battling to win the first division crown, with West Auckland, Hebburn, Consett, Sunderland RCA, Benfield, Stockton and Blyth AFC all in the mix.

“I’ll be disappointed if we’re not challenging and our aim is to be in the top 3-4.  The key will be who is most consistent over the 36 games.”

Dunston manager Chris Swales said:  “We’ve done OK this pre-season – better than last season, but I don’t read too much into pre-season games.  We had a good wins against Morpeth and Whickham.

“As far as the season goes, we have a difficult start against West Auckland, followed by Benfield midweek and then Hebburn in the FA Cup, but I’m happy with the squad.  We’ve recruited four new players and I’m hoping to add two more before the league season starts.”

Chris has set his team two goals for the season: winning some more silverware and a top six finish.

Dunston faced a fixture backlog towards the end of last season and played 60 games during the season.  The new recruits will help the club cope with a similar number of games this time round.

“I had to make a lot of changes when I took over – playing staff as well as coaches – but I didn’t have as much to do this pre-season.

“We want to progress again and be better, including the Vase which was good for Dunston in 2012 and we want to emulate that.”

He expects a few surprises in the coming season and predicts that, along with Dunston, clubs like West Auckland, Benfield and tomorrow’s opponents Shildon will be there or thereabouts, along with clubs like Hebburn and Blyth.