Kingstone Press League 1 Preview: Coventry Bears v Oxford

Coventry Bears coach Tom Tsang is looking forward to their first league game.

“It’s going to be a great day both on field and off field,” he said.

“We’ve got some decent stuff planned for pre-game so it should be good.

“I’m happy with the way pre-season has gone. It was a fairly rushed job and it was all hands to the pump and to make sure we got everything done in the right way but I think we’ve pulled together what I think is an exciting looking squad.

“We played the two games against Oldham and saw where we needed to be. We’ve brought in a couple more since then but everyone’s in the squad because they deserve to be. There’s a great feeling in there and a real good blend of people; everyone seems to be working together really well.

“I’ve watched a bit of video of Oxford, their most recent performance against Leigh Miners Rangers was a bit of blip, I don’t think you can read too much into that.

“They had a very good result against Hemel so you take them lightly at your peril, we’re certainly going to give them a lot of respect.

“To be honest this first part of the season it’s all about us, we’ve just got to get our performances right.”

Oxford coach Tim Rumford said: “We’re really looking forward to it, especially after the manner in which we exited the Challenge Cup. We know we’re going to have to perform much better than we did last time out, which is a challenge in itself. The guys are itching to get out there

“Coventry, as a development club, are a bit like ourselves. This week is a benchmark for us to we’re up against a team, who I would say are on a par with us in terms of their development.

“They played in the conference league for a number of years so they’ve probably got as much if not more experience in terms of playing personnel than we have. We have a number of rookies but it’s a challenge for us and one that the boys are looking forward to.”