Barkingside boss Matt Frew will be looking to win more games at home this season

Barkingside manager Matt Frew believes the opening week of the new season offers the perfect opportunity for his team to improve their home form.

Barkingside manager Matt Frew believes the opening week of the new season offers the perfect opportunity for his team to improve their home form.

The Oakside outfit collected just 22 of their 54 points at home last term and Frew wants his men to be much stronger on their own patch this time around.

Barkingside commence their Essex Senior League campaign with home games against Takeley and Clapton on Saturday and Monday respectively, followed by the visit of Great Yarmouth Town in the FA Cup on the Saturday.

And the manager expects his team to seize the initiative, having won just six of their 17 home league fixtures last season.

Frew said: “We need to be much better at home this season.

“We were very strong away last term but came unstuck at home too often.

“We need to make it harder for teams when they visit us.

“We need to start bossing home games from the kick-off rather than allowing other teams to dictate the tempo.

“If you have a few poor results at home it can become a habit, so we need to start matches better – commencing with the three games coming up.”

Frew admits it has not been the easiest of pre-seasons, with poor weather causing several friendlies to be called off.

But Barkingside have played three times in the past week – beating Buckhurst Hill 2-0, drawing 1-1 with Redbridge and losing 2-1 to Ilford – and the manager insists his team is ready for the big kick-off.

Frew said: “It’s been a strange pre-season for us but it’s been the same for lots of clubs – we’ve all been in the same boat.

“It would have been nice to have played a few more games, but I’m happy with our preparations and I think we’re ready for the new season.

“We’ve played five games in total and I think there have been plenty of positives.

“We’ve trained really hard – often in terrible weather – but our fitness levels are very good and we look much better than we did last year.

“We’ve also kept the ball well and played some good football.

“We’ve got a good mixture of youth and experience and have plenty of options, to the extent that I’ll only decide on our team selection and formation after training on Thursday.”

And Frew has repeated his insistence that his team can do much better than last season’s finish of eighth.

He said: “I’m looking for a top-four finish and want us to get to a cup final – that’s not unrealistic for us.”