Westfield hopeful of good season

Although there have been no big name additions, the Parish Field boss believes that the experience his young side gained in 2003-04 will stand them in positive stead this time around.

"I'm reasonably optimistic," he said. "I'm certainly not making any predictions on where we will finish but we're hopeful there will be an improvement on last year. I think we should be okay and that's always the first thing.

"I'm quite happy with what we've got and we've got more depth than last year. I've definitely got more options with forwards this year - I think I've probably got four or five who can play at that standard but we need to be more consistent.

"Pre-season's gone pretty well. We were very pleased at Hythe (1-0 victory in which Lawrence Brand was on target) last week and we were really pleased with Tuesday night (2-2 draw at Division One newcomers Worthing United earned by the goals of Dominic Clarke and Sam Jamison)."

It starts for real on Saturday August 14, though, with the visit of relegated Shoreham prior to a trip to Crowborough Athletic on Tuesday. Duncan Jones (ankle), Lawrence Brand and Ricky Matthews (both holiday), Mark Drinkwater (work) and Mark Ward are all out, although Drinkwater will return at Crowborough.

Saturday's annual friendly with Division One Sidley United ended in a 2-0 defeat, although the reserves won 1-0.

Early season fixtures - first team: tomorrow (Saturday) Shoreham (h) 3pm, Tuesday Crowborough Athletic (a) 7.45pm, August 21 Steyning Town (a) 3pm, August 28 St Francis Rangers (h) 1.45pm, August 30 Hailsham Town (h) RUR Charity Cup, 1st round 11am, September 4 Midhurst & Easebourne (a) 3pm, September 11 Crawley Down (h) 3pm, September 18 Mile Oak (h) 3pm, September 25 Lancing (h) provisional 3pm. Second team: August 21 Peacehaven & Telscombe (h) 3pm, August 28 St Francis Rangers (h) 4pm, September 4 Lingfield (h), September 11 Seaford (a) 3pm, September 18 Bexhill United (a) 4.15pm, September 24 Rye & Iden United (a) 7.30pm.