SHAUN Gardiner is looking forward to making a ‘fresh start’ with Westbury United next summer.

The Meadow Lane boss committed his long-term future to the club last week after initially taking over in November and is already working on putting his own stamp on the Westbury squad for next season.

United remain second-bottom of the Toolstation League First Division following their 3-0 loss to promotion-chasing Cribbs last weekend and Gardiner is keen to draw a line under the current campaign in favour of a brighter future next term.

“At the moment, everything’s going well everywhere but on the pitch,” said the Westbury manager.

“My job when I came in was to steady the ship and I think that’s happened. But to be honest, I just want to get this season out of the way so that we can start working on next season.

“I’m already talking to players and sorting out pre-season. I’m looking forward to a bit of a fresh start.”

On Saturday, Gardiner’s preparations for the visit of high-flying Cribbs were thrown into chaos as both of his central defenders – Callum Cooper and Nathan Hallett-Young – were injured in the warm-up.

The United chief said: “Callum injured his groin and Nathan injured his knee. This happened about 15 minutes before kick-off and they were both out of the game.

“I had to move Josh McGuire from right-back and also bring in Ryan Elliott, who’s just come back from Larkhall (Athletic).

“But it was 0-0 at half-time and I don’t think they outplayed us. Maybe having to make so many changes made it too hard in the end.”

Westbury saw a golden opportunity to take a first half lead go begging when Gary Tugwell and Marc Lanfear combined to set up Brett Partner in a great position but his volley crashed against the crossbar.

The visitors piled on the pressure after the break and opened their account when Tom Morgan headed home from Tom Bradley’s cross.

Winger Chris McGarne doubled Cribbs’ lead when his low shot deflected into the net with 66 minutes on the clock before Dave Gilroy’s header rounded off the visitors’ victory.

United make the trip to 11th-placed Cheddar tomorrow.