Back to back promotion is the aim for Newport Town this season as they kick off their County Premier Division campaign tomorrow.
Town start their season away to Impact United on Saturday with manager Richard Priest saying that failure to repeat last season’s promotion heroics will result in a “wasted season.”
Town strolled to success last time out in County Division One but Priest said the club wants to move up the leagues as quickly as possible and expects a strong promotion push this time around.
“Back to back promotions has to be the aim,” he said. “We are a club that wants to go places, we want progress and we want it quickly.
I will be personally disappointed if we don’t manage to go up again this year, I know that’s putting pressure on the lads but the aim has to be to try and win this league.”
Town’s pre-season has gone well with wins and draws against higher profile teams. The only downside has been injuries to two key players, central midfielder Liam Bould and right-back Michael McCartney.
Priest said: “We kept pre-season the same as last year and played teams of higher standard. We managed to draw with Shifnal which was a good result and we also drew with Wyrley. The standout result though was the win over Bustleholme who play in the West Midlands Premier League and were unbeaten in eight months.
“Last year in the cup we played a lot of teams from the division we’re in now, we beat Ellesmere Rangers Reserves a couple of times as well as Ludlow and we also beat St Martins who won the league – so we never came up short.
“We’ve got quite a strong squad, the injuries to Liam Bould and Michael McCartney are a blow but it gives someone else an opportunity.
“We start with Impact United on Saturday who came third last season so it’s going to be a good test.”
By Joseph Masi