Slimbridge manager Freddy Ward is delighted with a pre-season campaign that has seen his side win four of their six pre-season games, with one draw and a single loss to Gloucester City, although he has warned against anyone getting carried away ahead of Slimbridge’s third Southern League Division One South and West season.

“The slate has been wiped clean now (ahead of the start of the new season), so let’s hope we have a similar set of results after six League games!” he said.

Ward admitted, though, that he was pleased with the progress his young side was making prior to their opening game at Paulton Rovers this weekend.

“It’s looking very promising – we had a couple of really good tests, which we coped with well, and I’m hoping it bodes well for the season ahead,” he said.

With the Swans adopting a much faster paced passing style than they have played with in recent seasons, Ward is impressed with how the players have coped with the new system.

“When we press as a team, and break at pace, we’ll certainly cause most teams problems,” he said. “We’re working hard to give the players the confidence to pass the ball with belief and the results have been very pleasing so far.”

With a large influx of new players into the squad ahead of the new campaign, how the new arrivals settled into the team would be very important, and again, Ward is pleased with results so far.

“The new lads haven’t looked out of place, and with hopefully a couple more additions in the next couple of weeks, I’ll be very happy with the squad I have,” he said.

The other big change at the club in close season has been the arrival of Lee Driver-Dickerson as Ward’s assistant manager, and Ward is full of praise for his new assistant.

“Dickers coming in to help me has been a blessing – I can’t praise him enough,” he said. “As I was hoping when I asked him to join the club, he is just what both I and the boys needed.”

Following the game at Paulton, Slimbridge face two big local fixtures – they kick off their home campaign on Wednesday 16th August at Thornhill Park against Cirencester Town (7.45pm) before hosting Cinderford Town in the FA Cup on Saturday (19th, 3pm)