ANDY Crabtree believes his young Warminster Town side are better placed than they were this time 12 months ago ahead of the new Toolstation League First Division campaign.

Warminster finished in the relegation zone at the end of last term but were granted a reprieve from dropping down to the Wiltshire League.

Crabtree took charge of first team affairs with nine games of last season remaining and revealed that morale among the group was so low, that many players wanted the campaign to finish early.

However, with fresh impetus both on and off of the field, the Warminster boss believes the club is now on an upward curve.

“The club itself is going in the right direction. We have several new members on the committee with a bit of enthusiasm,” said Crabtree.

“They’re pushing the club in the right direction, it just needs to be transmitted on the pitch, really.

“When I came here, there were nine games left and you couldn’t wait for the season to be finished because the players were void of confidence.

“Some of them weren’t ready for that sort of football, but now they have a few games on board. We also have a very good youth set-up and we will reap the benefits of that soon.”

With a year under their belts and a few more players added to the mix, Crabtree believes he may have stumbled across a winning formula, but insists there is still plenty of work to do.

On the opening day of the season, Warminster take a short trip to face Chippenham Park at Hardenhuish Park.

“We have a few new lads in but we had quite a young side last year, so it was a good experience for them,” he added.

“All those games that they played will do them good. They probably weren’t ready last season, a few of them didn’t do as well as they should have.

“We’ve had a good pre-season. We haven’t done too bad but there is still a lot of hard work still to be done.

“Everyone wants to start the season well and we are no different. I would love to say we could win our first two games but I have to be realistic.”