BUDE head coach Angus Hodges hopes to develop a ‘senior squad’ following a meeting at Bencoolen Meadow last week.

While the first team are well-established in the Cornwall and Devon League, including a third-placed finish last term, the second team have entered the Tribute Duchy League as they bid to create a clearer pathway into the first team.

Hodges said: “The meeting went really well. It wasn’t just on what we want to do in the first team, but more as a club and what our goals are.

“One of the major things is developing our second team and bringing it more on board with the first team to develop a senior squad as a whole, which is going to be wonderful for both teams, bring in a lot of the younger players and also individuals will benefit as well, which is exciting really.

“It gives us new angles to look at instead of just the league table. As a club we can see how we’re going.

“The seconds have entered a league this year which is going to encourage more development as a team. We want to bring both teams together by training together, so it’ll be senior training as opposed to firsts and seconds doing it separately, which will promote integration between both teams.

“Some of the things we’ve started integrating into the first team, we want to bring into the seconds so there’s more fluidity.

“All of this will hopefully encourage more players to turn up to training. If only half of them turn up, it’ll be obvious to see by the development whose committed and those who aren’t, and that starts with pre-season.”

Hodges is getting the players back some two months before the league season starts in early September.

He said: “Pre-season kicks off next week (Tuesday, July 2) and we’re going to put what we’ve talked about into practice. Initially it’ll be quite fitness based, which is a mental thing as much as a physical thing. Hopefully the players will be ready to work and get the job done so that we start the season like we finished the last.

“The time between the off-season and the new season is something we’ve struggled with before, so it’s something I want to get right this year so we can hit the ground running. That starts with the psychological battle. The harder we work in the pre-season, the more prepared we’ll be to work hard during the season, so hopefully if the boys buy into it, we’ll start strong.”

Bude have been given two home games to start the league campaign, which kicks off with the visit of Veor on September 7.

The Bencoolen Meadow outfit lost just four and drew one of their 26 games, but still missed out on promotion to champions Penryn and Honiton.

This season sees five new teams join the league. Paignton and Truro were both relegated from the Western Counties (West) while Veor (near Camborne) and North Tawton were the respective winners of the top Cornwall and Devon leagues.

Exeter Athletic defeated Cornish side Bodmin in the promotion play-off to secure the final place in the 14-team division and will make the long trip to the North Cornwall coast on the second weekend (September 14).

Bude, as ever, will clock up the miles down to West Cornwall and East and South Devon and head to Mount Ambrose Cricket Club near Redruth to take on village side Lanner in their first away game of the season on September 21.

To round off their opening five games, they face Liskeard-Looe at home before making their shortest trip of the season to North Tawton.

Paignton and Truro are expected to be Bude’s main contenders for promotion. The Devon side visit Bencoolen Meadow on Saturday October 12 with the return at Queen’s Park on Saturday, February 1.

Clashes with Truro occur on Saturday, December 14 and the penultimate weekend on April 4, the second of which is at Bude.

The only side Bude lost to on both occasions last term was Torquay Athletic. Torquay are the visitors on December 7 with the Cornish club making the trip on the third to last game on March 28.

Hodges believes tough friendlies will ensure they are ready for their league opener on Saturday, September 7, although he’s unsure if consecutive home games against promoted Veor and Exeter Athletic, to begin with are a help or hindrance.

At present they have one fixture pencilled in when they make the short trip by their standards up to North Devon to take on Bideford, who play in the Western Counties (West) division.

He said: “It’s a bit of a double-edged sword. We usually find it quite difficult in the first weeks. It might be a bit of a confidence booster or we may think to ourselves that we can win them without having to prepare too well, although there’s no reason to think that. We need to be prepared to play from the start as opposed to thinking it’s going to be easy.”

Hodges hopes Bude’s pre-season tests will ensure they’re match-ready.

He said: Bideford is going to be a reasonably difficult game, but that’s exactly what we need. “If we’re going to be at the top of our league we need to be competing against teams from the league above.

“We’re not looking at the results at that stage, but focusing on the team and individuals’ preparation.

“Hopefully those games will prepare us nice and early as opposed to going straight into the league games undercooked.”