MANAGER Les Jones says Malvern Town will be looking to hit the ground running when they open their West Midlands Regional League campaign against Cradley Town.
The 2014/15 fixture list, which was released this week, has seen Malvern land two successive away trips against Cradley on Saturday, August 9 and then Bewdley Town on Tuesday, August 12.
Wellington Amateurs will be the first to visit Malvern’s newly-refurbished HDanywhere Community Stadium on Saturday, August 16 before Town finish the month with ties against Smethwick Rangers, Wellington and Willenhall Town.
Jones said they will need to stamp their authority on the league quickly if they want to be considered among the big-hitters next season.
“We have not been drawn against any of the league favourites in the first five of six games, so it is a reasonable start,” he said.
“Pegasus who came runners-up last year will be a strong side, so will Sporting Khalsa and Wolverhampton Casuals and Black Country Rangers will also be strong.
“But we will also be hoping to be one of those stronger sides having finished around mid-table last season. We just need to take that stride forward.
“I think we won two out of the first seven games last season, so we are looking to get off to a much better start and really hit the ground running.”
Jones believes it will take at least six games before the league table begins to show who the promotion challengers will be and he said he would not be surprised to see a few unexpected names up there.
“When you come into a new season, sides change as a lot of players move around, especially in the Wolverhampton, Dudley and Black Country area as there are quite a few teams in a small radius,” he said.
“There will also be a few surprise packages as we don’t know the strength of some of the sides, which have come into the league, so you can’t really judge what level you are at until September.”
Meanwhile, the Paul Pallett Memorial Cup clash between Malvern’s first team and Droitwich Spa has been rearranged for tomorrow (Thursday, 8pm) after it was called off on Saturday.