Diamonds boss Peaks keen to '˜get on with it' as new season dawns

Diamonds were placed in their new surroundings after just missing out on promotion back in May when they were beaten 2-1 by St Ives Town in the Southern League Division One Central play-off final.

A number of players departed soon after the season finished and Peaks has had to make additions to his squad during the summer with no fewer than eight new faces arriving at the Dog & Duck.

Diamonds kick-off the new season with a trip to Newcastle Town tomorrow (Saturday) and the manager now believes he has a squad in place that will be able to “compete” in their new surroundings.

“We have had a couple of reports on them but I am more concerned about what we do,” Peaks said.

“I want us to be hard to break down.

“We are looking forward to it. We are stepping into the unknown somewhat and we will be going to a lot of new grounds.

“We are just keen to get on with it now.

“We are no different to any other team. I would love us to hit the ground running but it’s also about building things up during the busy weeks that we have coming up.

“It has been a summer of recruitment but I do feel we have a squad that will be good enough to compete in the division.”

Joe Curtis will miss the opening game after he chipped a bone during pre-season while the club had already confirmed Jon Stevenson won’t be available for the start of the campaign due to personal reasons.

Other than that, Peaks is hopeful of naming a full-strength squad for the weekend trip.