Chichester City boss keen to improve on last season

Chichester City FC are looking up not down as they prepare for the new Isthmian League south east division campaign.
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Their aim is to finish higher than last season, when they ended in a creditable 11th spot. And so far, manager Miles Rutherford is pleased with progress made in getting a squad in place who can achieve that.

But he has admitted City – and many other clubs – are likely to face a pre-season of disruption caused by unavailability as players make the most of being able to holiday more freely than in the past two summers.

National League fixtures published for Sussex clubs.

Chi City boss Miles Rutherford / Picture: Chris HattonChi City boss Miles Rutherford / Picture: Chris Hatton
Chi City boss Miles Rutherford / Picture: Chris Hatton
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City had to call off a friendly against United Services Portsmouth on Tuesday night because they did not have enough players to field two 45-minute XIs and did not want to force too many into 90-minute run-outs this early in pre-season.

But Rutherford feels City’s numbers – and quality – are coming together and they will gradually be able to step things up over the coming weeks.

After another two training sessions this week, City head to Pagham on Saturday afternoon for a Dave Kew Cup semi-final.

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The winners will go on to play the victors of the Selsey-Worthing clash, which is on the same day.

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City had an up-and-down 2021-22 league season – starting slowly, then finding great form to threaten a play-off push before fading again but still finishing in the top half.

Rutherford hopes they can more consistent this season and perhaps have a good push for the play-offs.

He is in the process of adding three or four new faces, having also retained the majority of last season’s troops.

He told the Observer: “We’re ok but it’s early days. There’s going to be a lot of unavailability in pre-season – not just for us – because players are wanting to go away on holiday now they can.

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"But we’ve started training and Dabba (Darin Killpartrick) and Danny (Potter) are pleased with how sessions are going.

"We’ve got some new lads lined up and have not lost anyone major from last season’s squad, which is pleasing.

“Our aim really is to do better than last year.

"We want to be competitive and there’s no reason we can’t be.”

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