Hungerford Town's Andy Darnton welcomes selection headache at Bulpit Lane

Hungerford Town assistant manager Andy Darnton believes competition for places this season with be fierce as the club continue preparations for the new campaign.

The Crusaders eased to a 6-1 pre-season win over Kintbury Rangers on Tuesday evening, with goals coming from Ryan Seager (3), Louis McGrory, Warren Bentley and Nana Kyei, while Josh Davis scored for the hosts.

The win was their fifth successive win in a row as they also beat Folland Sports 5-2 on Saturday and Darnton is pleased with how they are progressing.

“It was a good result [against Kintbury], there was more minutes for the boys, and we have made sure that in all the games that everyone is getting equal game time while making sure that the workload isn’t too much.

“We were strong, we looked fit and we played a bit of a different formation which helped because we were good in possession and we look on the front foot more than we did last season.”

Hungerford have recruited early, with manager Danny Robinson adding more depth to his squad, ready for their first league game on August 21.

“I think the new boys that have come into the team have gelled well and blended well and we’re now looking at different partnerships at the moment,” said assistant manager Darnton.

“It is work in progress for pre-season because we have to make sure we’re ready for pre-season and we have some tough friendlies coming up.”

With new players, comes battles for places in the team and it’s expected to be a difficult decision for Robinson when the squad for the first league game needs to be named.

“There are some huge competition for places,” admitted Darnton. “We have 23/24 players and they’re all screaming to get into the squad of 16 and there will be some tough decisions.

“I do feel that, with the way we have recruited this season, the personnel and the squad is stronger this year and we will have a few headaches.”