HIGHWORTH Town manager Jeff Roberts will be aiming to begin implementing his preferred style of play when his side kick-off the new season against Tuffley Rovers tonight.

The Worthians make the trip to Gloucester today to take on Tuffley (kick-off 7.45pm), with the match being former Corsham Town and Royal Wootton Bassett Town boss Roberts’ first in charge of Highworth.

Whilst Roberts has succeeded John Fisher at the Elms, he won’t be the only manager beginning his own new era at Glevum Park, with Mark Pritchett also overseeing his first game at the Rovers helm.

The Highworth chief is keen to get his new-look Worthians side, who are much-changed after a raft of incomings and departures this summer, playing a more progressive brand of football as the season wears on, but Roberts isn’t expecting too much too soon.

“Highworth is a big club around this area but we’ve told people that they need to patient because it’s going to take time for this new team to gel together,” said Roberts.

“In pre-season, there have been some times where there’s been a little bit of frustration but we’ve sat the players down and reminded them that it is going to take some time.

“They’ll get better all the time, the more they get to know each other and learn each other’s games, and there’s no pressure on them from us.

“John Fisher did a great job here for a long time.

“I think the football that they played was a quite direct but we’re going to try and get the ball down and play it a lot more, so it might be a little different to what people are used to seeing from Highworth.

“Like everything, that will take some time but we’re hoping that we can get the lads playing the way that we like to see the game played.”