Poulson: Plenty more to come from FC Stratford

DAVE Poulson was pleased to see his FC Stratford side get off to a winning start against Birmingham Tigers on Saturday but insists there is still plenty more to come.

A new look Stratford team, with 12 new faces in the squad, kicked off their campaign in devastating fashion, claiming a 6-1 success over the Midland League Division Three new boys at Sedgemere Road.

Goals from Dylan Parker (2), James Gifford (2), Tom Parnaby and Dean Poulson put Stratford 6-0 ahead before the Tigers snatched a late consolation through Younes Abdulqader.

While a 6-1 opening-day win would delight any manager, Poulson feels his team have some way to go before they hit top gear.

“We didn’t play particularly well,” he said.

“There were some very good individual performances, but we could have been much better as a team,

“We’ve got so much pace in the side this year and we were just far quicker than they were.

“To be honest, they got away lightly with six. You could argue we couldn’t have had a penalty and their goalkeeper could have been sent off.”

Stratford’s regularly struggled with a lack of squad depth last season, but it appears to be a completely different story this term.

“We’ve got a few new lads in and we felt it was something we needed to do,” Poulson added.

“We didn’t always feel like we could turn to the bench to change anything last season. There were always players missing and unless we had the best XI there, there was not much hope for us, really.

“The five that were on the bench on Saturday could have easily started the game and I know the quality would not have dropped.”

Stratford return to action this Saturday when they take on Inkberrow at the MoodChimp Stadium (3pm).