Pitchero Non League

Danny Edwards

....Chalfont St Peter, this season.

Edwards and his players are well into pre-season training and begin their warm-up for the new campaign at Penn & Tylers Green on Tuesday.

A twelfth-place finish in their maiden Division One Central season was disappointing for the ambitious Saints boss, who felt his side had the chance to gatecrash the play-offs. Just five wins at Mill Meadow was the main reason behind the slide and Edwards has called on his players to be more adventurous on their own patch.

“We have had meetings to review last season,” he said. “From February onwards it was relegation form but before then it was promotion form. “Our home form was appalling. We weren’t brave enough and, at times, gave teams too much respect in our first season in the division.”

Replacing prolific striker Charlie Strutton, 23, who left for npower League Two side AFC Wimbledon last season, is also a priority but with a limited budget it is a tough task.

Edwards said: “Charlie scored a lot of goals for us and when he left it became clear how much we relied on him. That has to change and we need to spread the goals throughout the team.

“There are not a lot of players around. We are confident we have four players committed and ready to sign but are on the look-out for a centre forward. We have spoken to a lot of players but it is hard because we don’t have the money to throw around.

“We have to sell them the club, the environment they can play in and the football we try to play, and hope that is enough. Also a lot of players are on trials at bigger clubs and we have to wait until they are finished before we can make approaches.”

As for targets, Edwards is not ready to rule his side out of the promotion shake-up.

“Apart from Slough Town, no one else is really throwing money at the division,” he said.

“The division seems a lot more even and it will be interesting to see how it goes. If we can start well and find a level of consistency, then who knows what can happen.”

Tags: News | Chalfont St. Peter

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