Sammy Moore believes Potters Bar Town are on track to mount a serious bid for the Isthmian League play-offs this season.
The Scholars lost 1-0 away to Royston Town in their latest pre-season friendly but with a squad limited by injuries and containing a handful of trialists, they had more than enough chances to take something from an hotly-contested match.
And added to a narrow 4-3 defeat to National League Maidenhead United last time out, and a 2-0 win over Leyton Orient earlier in the month, the Bar boss is very happy with where his side are at the moment.
Moore said: "This season the aim is to get a competitive squad that can be up at the top end of the table.
"We have made some really good signings and pre-season has gone really well.
"This was our sixth game and we’ve put games in against pro clubs where we will be out of possession and games like this which is a proper step three contest.
"They were big and strong and put balls into our box but we dealt with that mostly.
"We switched off for their goal but we could have had three or four ourselves if the decision making was better in the final third.
"We are where we need to be in pre-season though and I am delighted with the boys’ attitude."
In terms of transfers Moore couldn't be happier, having secure all his major summer targets.
He said: "The main one was Lewis Manor, he got 24 goals last year.
"If you look at the top five teams in the division, all have a big target man. They play into him and play off him.
"We’ve addressed that and we have good players this year who can take us to the next level.
"We’ve come back hungry. We’ve signed leaders and players with a winning mentality."
And the introduction of Manor is just one of the reasons for a much bigger, more physical-looking side, one which Moore believes will not be a pushover in the Premier Division.
"I don’t think anybody will want to play us this year," he said.
"We’re not a small side now. We have physicality which is something we wanted to address this summer.
"We are going to be a handful for teams and we are going to score goals.
"We maybe need to tighten up at the back but we have only had three training sessions, most of it has been games.
"We’ll definitely be ready though."
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