Leese hopes Poppies fans will be out in force for first home game

The Poppies take on Stourbridge at Latimer Park on Saturday and will be looking to bounce back after suffering a 3-2 defeat at Stamford on the opening day of the Southern League Premier Central campaign,

Boss Leese was understandably disappointed after seeing his new-look team squander 1-0 and 2-1 leads before slipping to an opening-day loss but insists there is “no cause for concern”.

“It’s one game and it’s impossible for anybody to draw any conclusions about how the season might pan out just from last Saturday,” the Poppies boss said.

“We were in the game and we were competitive. I’ve looked back at it and, for an hour, we played some really good stuff.

“There’s no cause for concern but there’s no doubt we have a tough weekend in front of us.

“We should have great support behind us.

“I hope we can get 700 or 800 people in the place and get it rocking. That’s what we need, we need that bit of support.

“We are a new team and I want the new players, as much as the older ones, to experience the passionate support this club has.

“We want people to come out in numbers and we will try to entertain them and bring them some winning football.”

The Poppies will be taking on a Stourbridge team who beat title favourites Coalville Town 4-2 on the opening day and a busy couple of days then sees Leese’s team head to Barwell on Monday night.

“I would say right here, right now that Stourbridge are likely to be a top six or top eight side,” he added.

“They have always been perennial challengers when I have been in the Southern League.

“They are very organised and they have made some pretty astute signings.

“We will have our work cut out but we knew that. It’s a tough opening month.

But we are at home and we need to embrace that.

“It’s a tough weekend because we don’t have much turnaround time between Saturday and the game at Barwell on Monday.

“The players are in no doubt that it’s a challenging weekend for us.”