Skegness boss is raring to get going ahead of Sunday opener
Skegness Town joint-boss Chris Rawlinson says he can’t wait for the new season to start as they prepare for their Sunday lunchtime opener this weekend.
The noon kick-off against Newark Town is due to the game being part of the next GroundhopUK weekend, meaning a bigger attendance than usual can be expected.
And Rawlinson says it will hopefully be a positive start on the pitch as well.
He said: “Newark will be a difficult start. They nearly got in the play-offs last year and if anything they have strengthened over the summer. They’re strong, physical and very non-league so for us it’s a really good test.
“We’re at home and the groundhop should mean it’s another good day for the club and hopefully big crowd. It’s a strange kick-off time but we’ll cope with that and hopefully get our season off to a good start.
“In the last three years we’ve lost the first game of the season so anything better than that will be an improvement and we can’t wait to get going.”
Skegness drew 4-4 with Coalville Town on Saturday in their penultimate pre-season fixture, the final game being at home to a Scunthorpe United side on Tuesday after this week’s Standard had gone to press.
And Rawlinson felt there were again lots of positives to take from the Coalville game.
He said: “Coalville were probably the most committed of all the teams we’ve played in pre-season and brought a huge following which obviously added to their performance.
“To get a gate of between 4-500 for a pre-season game between step five and step six clubs is brilliant, so it was a great occasion. Once again we scored another four goals and had 20-plus shots, were 4-2 up and really should have seen the game out.
“We made some changes because a lot of lads have played a lot of minutes and we had a few playing in strange positions, and Coalville scored two goals late on, one of them an own goal.
“So we’re confident that had that been a normal league game we’d have seen that out, so we’re relatively happy and also happy with how pre-season has gone.
“The main thing is that we’re scoring goals and creating chances and that was the intention with the way we’re playing and the people we’ve brought in. The ideal is to then still be tight at the back as well and it looks like we’re heading that way.”