NEW Eccleshill boss Mark Greaves is glad that the first home game of the season is out of the way and he expects things to pick up from now.

Greaves, who was assistant manager at Liversedge last season, has been building an entirely new squad over the summer. Pre-season was increasingly impressive but the opening game of the campaign fell flat against Westella VIP.

He said: "It was disappointing because we were 2-0 up and lost 4-3 but home advantage was no advantage at all on the opening day.

"We only had two players who had ever played here before, for the rest it was a totally new experience. I think the occasion got to us and we went into our shells.

"There were no home friendly games in pre-season, and I can see why the club wanted that because of the work on the pitch, but it didn't do us any favours.

"We managed two training sessions on the pitch in the last week before the season started. But as regards being at home in our first game – we weren't really. It was a tough start and we froze a bit."

With Sean Regan as his number two and Hayden Lobley first-team coach, the new management team attracted a lot of fresh blood to the club.

They had to trim the numbers as the season approached but have a lot of players signed on and Greaves is convinced about the quality available for selection.

"Pre-season went very well, we got the squad down to 23 and in the last few weeks we got some good performances," said Greaves.

"We've whittled them down and we're very pleased with what we have."