Fresh faces breathe new life into Racers

A second successive bottom-placed finish forced Racers boss Lee Knight to make full use of his extensive contacts book in an attempt to breathe new life into the once- proud club.

An increase in the playing budget has seen Tom Falmer, Michael Batchelor, Myron Semper, Liam Doyle and Tom Willmore among a host of new faces added to the squad, while Racers also hung on to the services of highly rated striker Luke Fuller.

However, despite encouraging signs, Knight is loathe to make any bold predictions ahead of tomorrow’s opener at Bolehall.

“People have a preconception of us as basement boys,” said Knight. “So to go from that to saying we’re going to win the league, we’ve got to be realistic.

“What we will do is work our socks off to be there or there-abouts.

“I’m quietly confident we’ve got a squad at this level to win more than we lose. But it’s down to them now to turn up and put a roll of wins together.”

A 1-0 win over Whitnash Town completed an impressive pre-season campaign which has seen Racers claim morale-boosting victories over Daventry United and Stewarts & Lloyds Corby.

Knight was particularly happy with a second successive clean sheet at Acre Close, but believes his side will have their work cut out to complete a hat-trick at Rene Road.

“Bolehall have got a decent budget and have been trying to get out the league for a few seasons.

“We’ve got to go there, compete, keep our shape, keep solid and with the lads we’ve got, we’ll create chances.

“I think it will be the toughest game we have this season, but I’ll know a lot more about us and our chances after the weekend.”