This one isn’t going to be as long-winded as the last article (famous last words!), but hopefully still a good one none the less. I’ve had some great feedback from the first, all of which is hugely appreciated, so I’ll carry on as we are and pop a few bits of blurb on here now and again.

The first thing – compared to the capitulation at Torquay a week earlier, Saturday’s home friendly with Coventry City was much, much better, and hopefully we’ll get more of the same effort as the season progresses. We treated the game as we would a league fixture, and considering this was a side that were a penalty kick away from the Premier League at the end of last season, we caused the visitors a few problems at times. Defensively we looked miles better, so maybe the penny is dropping about improving our game in that area. However, conceding from a set piece and late on in the game shows there’s still some work to be done, but it’s not going to be an overnight fix.

Aimson and Sweeney got stuck in at vital times, and the pace of Demi Mitchell should cause many a League 1 defence problems this coming season. Despite my initial worries about Vil Sinisalo, he had a decent game on Saturday and pulled off some good saves here and there. Tom Carroll for me looks like he’ll be a key cog in the clockwork this coming season, orchestrating the play in the middle of the park and playing the role of experienced head that Kevin McDonald played last season. There were some mixed reviews over whether James Scott has what it takes going forward – some liked the look of him whereas others have questioned whether he has what it takes to partner Nombe up top.

For me, we looked like we lacked a bit of bite in the final third and ideally do need another striker to make for some healthy competition but I hope for Scott’s sake that he gets a bit of confidence to up his game – once he gets himself a goal, I’m sure that more will come. Obviously the rumours about Nombe last week unsettled the fan base a bit, especially with another month of the transfer window left to go, but hopefully we can hold onto him as he’ll be a key player for us this season.

It was great to see another bit of business done on Friday with the signing of Zak Jules to bolster the defensive numbers. It shows that the business dealings in the transfer market aren’t over yet by a long shot. GC mentioned back along that he wanted around 8-10 signings this summer – that being the 8th, will another couple make their way to EX4?

Of course Saturday saw the debut of the new trust-sponsored black Third kit. Huge kudos to the club for getting Adidas/Pro-Direct involved in creating some decent merchandise, and for me the sales speak for themselves. I went into the shop after the game looking to pick a third shirt up only to find out they’d sold out in my size – I’d never seen it so busy in there after a match! Hopefully another delivery will be forthcoming soon, as I’ve given hints to the wife that I’d like to have one as a birthday present when we head to the Norwegian Fjords on a cruise in a few weeks. Then I can add to the many ‘Grecians on Tour’ that we’ve seen over the close season!

A visit to Wycombe beckons on Saturday, and as ever I’m sure it’ll be a tough test at Adams Park. Bar an iffy start we gave a good account of ourselves there back in March, and I’m hoping the same will be the case on Saturday. They’ve got some decent players in their side, and of course we all know about the abilities of ex-Grecian David Wheeler. They’ve made 12 new signings, including decent defensive players in the experienced Richard Keogh, Ipswich’s Kane Vincent-Young and Luke Leahy from Shrewsbury, so they’re going to be a difficult nut to crack on Saturday. I’m sure as ever that we’ll be up to the challenge though with a decent number of travelling Grecians in attendance.

It was great to be back at the park on Saturday, and it’s given me a bit more excitement for the coming season. Getting an attendance of over 5,000 for a pre-season friendly is pretty unheard of with us and goes to show that many are invested in the rollercoaster ride that is our wonderful football club. It was also nice to see the new facilities at the Cliff Hill Training Ground fully opened at the weekend, and I hope those facilities will serve us well for many years to come. We won a tour of the new facilities in the ‘Kit out the Cliff’ auction a number of months back, so I’m very much looking forward to undertaking that when the time comes to do so.

As I said in the previous article, we’ve come such a long way in the last 20 years, and it’s quite apt that on the Trust’s 20th anniversary of owning our club, big projects are coming to fruition. We’ve got a lot to be proud of and our custodians in the Trust/Club board have served and are serving us very well. Considering how far we’ve come already, who knows what the next 20 years may bring?

Onwards and upwards we go. UTC.