Boyle looking to build on successful campaign as Longlevens shape up for new season
Longlevens Co-Manager Pete Boyle says his side are looking to build on their successful season last season as they continue their pre-season.
Lewis Vye’s double and goals for George Hunt, Gino Valenti and a Trialist saw Longlevens beat Sharpness 5-1 on Saturday afternoon in Levens’ third pre-season game.
Following the game, Boyle praised his side for implementing the tactics they had been working on in sessions and the previous matches.
“It was a baking hot day, so we knew it was going to be perhaps a little bit slower that what we expect when the season starts, but I think the big emphasis on today was the tactical things we were trying to implement, and to be fair, the boys did it perfectly.
If we were to say one thing we need to do better is the technical details in the final third. It may seem weird considering we scored five goals, but certainly in the first half, we could have created more opportunities, but tactically we were spot on and the shape was really good,” said Boyle.
“We have had three friendlies now, with four more and we have been really please. Melksham last week were obviously going to be a very good side, especially when you look at how well they did at the end of last season, so we expected them to be strong.
Then at North Leigh in midweek, it was another good test. They had a number of young, academy lads by the looks of it, and then today Sharpness are coming into pre-season after a great season – so we have had three different sets of opposition, who were going to test us in different ways and we’ve managed each game really well to be honest,” Boyle added.
Levens were able to include a number of new faces and trialists during Saturday’s win including George Hunt, who netted in the second half from the best part of 30 yards and experienced man Harrison Reeves, who was sidelined with injury.
With the bulk of the squad also returning, Boyle admits that he and Co-Manager Buster Davies have found recruitment much easier this summer after last season’s success and alluded to waiting on news regarding whether top scorer Fin Gwillim would be returning to the club.
“Being honest, recruitment has been a lot easier than last season, considering the league finish we had last year compared to the year before – even the lads that we already had on board, it was a lot easier for them to decide to stick with us because they knew exactly what we were going to ask of them.
We’ve only really needed to add four or five bodies into the group and we’re almost there with it. Obviously, I’d like to know what we’re doing at the top end of the pitch, but other than that, we’re really, really pleased that it’s been a lot easier than 12 months ago,” said Boyle.
Longlevens come into their pre-season after a successful season last term, securing the Hellenic League Floodlit Cup and finishing 11th in the league – with a play-off push on the cards up until the final quarter of the season and Boyle says Levens will aim for a higher position in the league and target more cup success.
“( think we’ve got to beat last year’s league position as a minimum,” admitted Boyle. “We were in and around the play-off shouts for a lot of the campaign, but tailed off towards the end and part of that was down to the cup runs we were going on.
Obviously, we want to win another trophy, but the main objective is to beat last year’s league finish, make sure we’re in the top half and really we will be looking at top 7-8 to make sure we are in those play-off shouts towards the end of the season yet again,” Boyle added.
Longlevens continue their pre-season schedule on Tuesday night when they head to the Meadow to take on Brimscombe & Thrupp.
