SWINDON College Old Boys manager Martin Peaple is confident an early start can prove the key to success for the club this season.

Old Boys begin their Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier season tomorrow with a home game against Bicester, but have been preparing for the new campaign since the start of June after the players were brought back early for pre-season traning.

Peaple is confident their thorough preparation will help them get off to a fast start, and maintain their form throughout the season.

“Pre-season has been excellent, and I don’t think we could have really asked for anything more,” he said.

“We started our programme in the second week of June because we wanted to work on a different way of playing, and Mark Roshier (head coach) has been trying to get all of the players up to speed.

“We have seen that style progress throughout the summer, from the players not having a clue what they were doing to it working a lot better than we even imagined.

“We are blessed in the fact we have a quite a young squad really, and the guys didn’t really want to stop for the summer and were keen to carry on through which is a real plus.

“We have brought in a few new players too, and they are all picking up on how we play quickly which is good.”

Peaple is glad Old Boys begin their season at home, and is hopeful of a good opening day win.

“During pre-season we have played two sides who will be in higher leagues than us, and we won both times, so we have a lot of confidence from that.

“We have played Bicester quite a lot over the last few years, and we beat them at the back end of last season so I have a good feeling that we can do so again.

“The sun is going to be shining which is always good for the start of the season, so it should be a good occasion and we are looking for a good win.”