JOHN SMITH

Good afternoon and welcome to Foxcotte Park for what promises to be a fantastic challenge for us all as we have our first competitive home fixture of the new season.

Before I look ahead, I must look back on the unfortunate finish to last season that ended early due to the global pandemic. As a club, we were disappointed with the way the season finished after so much hard work both on and off the pitch was in the end in vain. However, we fully understood and supported the reasons behind the early shutdown.

It is such a strange time for the world at the moment, and I offer my condolences to everyone to Andover New Street who has lost a loved one or been affected by the pandemic, I also take my hat off to all the NHS staff, volunteers, carers and keyworkers who worked, and continue to work tirelessly. Thank you. We all know that to continue to keep everyone safe as we can, football has to return with a restricted amount of supporters for now.

During the extended pre-season, we have been busy recruiting both coaching and playing staff in preparation for the season ahead. Joining the coaching team is Jason Mussellwhite, who gives us an extra dimension that we have been lacking. We have tried to get Jason into the club for awhile and we were all ecstatic when he agreed to join.

On the playing front we have a number of new signings – Goalkeeper Sean O’Brien, defender Danny Field, midfield duo Scott Kinge and Connor Thorne and strikers Brett Denham and Kai Sterne. We also have some familiar old faces return to the club in the shape of Gary Thorne and Gunner Yates.

After a tough pre-season, it was great to get the season started last Saturday and even more pleasing to come back from the island with three points.

Enjoy today’s game and please continue to look after each other.