“I’m delighted with the lads” beamed Tommy Wright after seeing his side come out on top against Villa’s Under 23’s on Saturday.   “They’ve won 1-0 against a team that had beaten Tamworth 4-1 earlier in the week and kept another clean sheet so it’s a massive positive for us.

The Tamworth result was brought up in our pre-match team talk and it shows that we are moving in the right direction.  It’s the performance that was most impressive but it’s results that breed confidence and the dressing room is really buzzing now.

Winning is everything even if it’s only a pre-season friendly and it’s a great habit to get into.

And it was particularly pleased  to see Liam Hughes get what turned out to be the winner.  I had him at Darlington last season and he’s someone I appreciate so much as a human being.    He’s come through some tough times but he knows me and he played at Warwick last week scoring a couple of goals.

He really enjoyed it and that’s what he wants to do at this stage of his career.   He officially signed for us before this afternoon’s game as did Luis Morrison and that’s two really good signings for us.

I was also pleased with Dylan Parker today.   He’s a local lad who did tremendously well at youth team level and I know exactly how that feels having been in an identical position at my home town cub Leicester City.

The previous games he’s been played out wide but I wanted to give him a run in his proper position down the middle and he’s done great..

So overall our preparations are going well but Brackley next weekend will be a real test for us.  I know them well from my time at Darlington in National League North, but we are growing in confidence and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”