Ahead of Saturday’s season opener, County captain Matty Dolan has outlined how well the summer has gone for the Exiles.
It’s been a busy off-period for County, with eight new faces and six pre-season opponents faced as we get ready for 2022-23 in what has been a uniquely short summer in British football due to the upcoming Winter World Cup.
Despite having such a new influx of playing staff though, skipper Matty Dolan is confident all the new faces have fit in seamlessly.
“Coming back in, everyone has their new targets and new goals that they’ve set for themselves for the new season so it’s nice to be back in and I think pre-season’s gone exceptionally well and the lads have worked hard,” Dolan said.
“The new boys have integrated really well, and I think everybody’s excited for this Saturday for the big kick-off.
“The manager got his business done fairly early, which helped us massively.
“They’ve settled into the squad from day one and I think the lads have integrated well, they’re really good characters and really good technical footballers and some really good leaders in there as well.
“People like Aaron Wildig, Dec [Drysdale] has a really good voice at the back, Adam Lewis has got a lot of quality. There’s a lot of good signings that I’m sure the fans will be excited to see more of. “
It’s also been manager James Rowberry’s first summer with the squad as he’s had the chance to work with the squad from day one this season after arriving at Rodney Parade part-way through last season in mid-October.
“The manager and his backroom staff have done this pre-season really well,” Dolan added.
“The game time has been fantastic. Especially in the first two to three weeks it was intense, it was exactly what we needed in regard to how we’re going to play this year, so I think the manager and his staff have done exceptionally well and I think the boys have followed it to a tee.
“The boys have literally given everything that they can do in pre-season and obviously everyone’s excited to get back into the routine, winning football matches and progressing the team.”