“Having a good pre-season is important” says Coyle ahead of big season for Stonehouse Town

Stonehouse Town Joint Manager Adam Coyle says that having a good pre-season can be the catalyst for their attempt to win the Hellenic League Division One title, following his side’s opening friendly.

Coyle’s side eased to a 10-1 victory over a young Gloucester City Reserves side on Friday night, including a ruthless first half that saw Stonehouse lead 6-0 at the break – with key minutes across the squad, including for U17s trio Barney Brodie, Ben Smart and Cole Smith and after the game Coyle said he was delighted to be able to include U17s and Reserves players in the squad, showing a clear pathway at the club.

“We are delighted, it was a bit of a mixed match, really. We made the team today, to be honest, because we had a couple of dropouts and we made the decision to leave a few lads out that weren’t really suited to a 3g pitch.

So we wanted to give a lot of the younger lads a chance and having been here a year now, we have that freedom to show the rest of the club that there is a pathway into the first team.

We have a massive youth section, a third team and a Reserves side, not just a first team – so for pre-season we want to show these young lads that you are going to get a chance.

And that’s my background, the transition from U18s football into Men’s is the real thing I’m passionate about, so to give these lads a chance makes me really happy. Yes, the result is good, but to give players an opportunity was the real win for me tonight,” said Coyle.

An early Fin Byrnes penalty was followed up by an Alex Kibble free kick and four efforts from Harley Hudd as the Magpies punished their hosts at every error, pressing high and winning the ball in attacking areas.

Second half braces for a trialist and for Gloucester City U18s striker Tim Hill saw Stonehouse open pre-season with victory.

The squad included a number of new faces who are set to sign for the club and after suffering injury time heartbreak in the Hellenic Division One play-off final, Coyle believes his side doesn’t need too many additions to go one better this season.

“We don’t need a lot,” said Coyle. “We were a 91st minute penalty away from being promoted, potentially, so we know we’re not far off.

It’s just quality instead of quantity and that’s all we’ve said all summer. We’ve got to add players who are improving the squad – there’s no point having players that are the same as what we’ve got, they’ve got to come in and be better or different to what we’ve got to be the difference.

We looked through the middle of the park really, so a centre half, a central midfielder and a centre forward, just to give us a bit more, but again, it is about bringing in players to improve us. We’ve had some really good conversations and some to come, but I think we are in a really good position across the pitch – just the spine is a really key area for us,” Coyle added.

There have been additions in the dugout over the summer, with Karl Nash stepping up into a Joint Manager role alongside Coyle, with Tim Wilkins and Andy Jones joining the club after leaving Thornbury Town at the end of last season and Mike Bulbeck, who assists as Kit Manager.

The management team offers bags of experience, with Wilkins and Jones previously part of Sam Prior’s management team at Brimscombe & Thrupp and Coyle admits that by having a full management team, it frees him up to look at how to build the rest of the club and elevate the pathway for the younger players at the club.

“It’s massive [to have the management team in place] but what’s also important is that it allows me to go and do other things within the club as well.

I can go and watch the Second Team, the U17s and other sides. Like tonight, I let them do the warm-up and I can observe and do other bits – so this will allow me to free myself up and take a wider look at the whole club.

Having U16s or U17s involved, like tonight, doesn’t just happen, that comes from a lot of conversations and watching a lot of games of football so the five of us are absolutely a great fit and we have no doubts it is going to work really well,” said Coyle.

Hellenic Division One looks as competitive as ever this season, with two new Gloucestershire sides in the league in Lydney Town and Sharpness, and Coyle admits that if Stonehouse are going to improve on last season’s return and fight for the league title, having a better pre-season that 12 months ago is vital.

“It’d be nice to win the league, wouldn’t it?” Coyle laughed. “But we know it’s not just going to happen – we’re not just going to start fourth in the league.

We had to work really, really hard last season to get fourth. Pre-season was really messy last season and unsurprisingly we started really, really poorly in August and September, so the aim is to have a much better start to the season and that’s what we’re aiming for so having a good pre-season is really important this time and we’re getting there slowly,” Coyle added.

Stonehouse Town continue their pre-season with two home friendlies next week, starting with Frampton United on Tuesday night and Forest Green Rovers Academy on Friday 17 July.

Cover photo courtesy of Stonehouse Town