Joint-boss hopes Mossley can retain bulk of talented squad

FOOTBALL: MOSSLEY joint-manager Peter Band is quietly confident he will be able to keep the squad intact over the summer.

The Lilywhites enjoyed a great 2014-15 season in the Evo-Stik League Division One North. Despite a comparatively small player budget, Band and joint-boss Lloyd Morrison’s young and talented squad achieved seventh place and won the Manchester Premier Cup at Athletic’s SportsDirect.com Park.

There were a few ‘what if’ questions at the season’s end, but it was still an encouraging campaign for Mossley.

Now, Band and Morrison are planning for 2015-16, and hope the club can continue to improve providing most of the players stay onside. At Mossley’s level some migration is inevitable, but Band remains positive.

“We’re going to have a chat with the lads this week and see what their thoughts are on next season, and hopefully we won’t lose many of them, if any. The lads hear about rival clubs who may be interested, but we’ll just have them ticking over and keep an eye on them. We should be okay. The lads I’ve spoken to already want to push on.

“We want to get them fit and strong again during pre-season and if we can start next season in the same form as we ended the last, we can do well. If we can keep the spine of the team together then that will give us plenty to build on.

“The lads aren’t here for the money, and both Lloyd and I are used to working within a strict budget.

“There’s a great spirit in the camp, and if we can maybe add to the squad, then hopefully we’ll be much stronger next term.”

There were plenty of highlights during Mossley’s campaign, which ended with a 2-0 victory at Ossett Albion.

The Premier Cup win against now-promoted to Conference North Curzon Ashton will have topped many fans’ lists, but Band called out another Tameside derby win in the league as his fondest moment.

“We beat Droylsden 4-2 around Christmas and that proved to be a turning point,” added former Hyde and Altrincham midfielder Band. “We scored three goals in 15 minutes and, looking back, that result really kick-started our run towards the play-off places.

“At the time we were 13 points behind Droylsden, but by the end of the season we had finished well clear of them.

“That was when the belief truly kicked in that we could be in with a chance of being successful, and Mike Fish’s goal, when he ran the full length of the field before scoring, topped off a great day.”

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