Suter shakes off disappointment ahead of Ryman League debut
A BIG adventure awaits Horsham YMCA as they boldly step out of the County League to test themselves in the Ryman for the first time.
"It has excitement in playing in a new league and stepping into the unknown," said manager John Suter.
"That is always something you have to be weary of. You don't know how your squad is going to fair.
"It is a very good league to be in, with some very good teams in it with a lot of ambition Kingstonian, Maidstone, Dartford, and Dover - they have come from higher football and want to get back there."
Pre-season has not gone well for YM with it being disrupted by the unavailability of a lot of their players, including injuries to key men Glen Woodburn, Phil Fitzgerald and Kris Trevor.
Eric Pudaloff and and Michael Wood have come in and will battle it out for the number one jersey, with goalkeeper lan Chatfield departing.
Other additions to the squad are midfielders Tom White, Ross Shoefield and Kevin Keehan, wing-back Mo Shuga'a and Steve Best and Rob Mills at the back.
Pat Massaro has bolstered department, along with the return of the top scorer from two years ago, Steve Davies.
Assistant manager Tommy Sampson said: "Tom White has been excellent, we are really pleased with him. He's come in and done a really good job, been recommended by someone and looked the part from day one.
"Losing lan Chatfield is a major blow - we've had five keepers play for us in five games. It's very unsettling for the Woodburns, the Hoopers and the Gardens not to have Chatfield in goal but we've got to deal with that.
"Chats has gone, whilst it's a huge blow, we've got to look forward now," stated Suter's right hand man.
"I think next Saturday will open everybody's eyes here but I'm sure we will be OK. I've told them there should be no fear about it.
"I've been in the Southern League all my life, we will be alright so long as we attack it head on and are organised," commented the experienced Sampson.
"Organisation has been a bit lax pre-season because of unavailabilities. We've got one or two problems to mount but you never go through football without problems."
Sampson added: "It's going to be a big adventure for the club. It's only me, Matt Russell, Ellis Hooper that has done what Maggsy [John Maggs] has been doing all this time.
"We are a bit na'ive in places and we hope that doesn't cost us too much.
"Naivety is something that you can deal with eventually.
"So we are all looking forward to it."