BEWDLEY Town manager Phil Mullen believes a youthful squad can make an impact in the West Midlands Premier.

Town start the season at Ellesmere Rangers (3pm ko) on Saturday in a repeat of last season’s opener before an away trip to Tipton Town next Wednesday (7.45pm ko).

In fact, Bewdley have three of their first four league games away.

Mullen though says his youthful 20-strong squad can cope with a long season.

Last season, the club struggled to keep up the numbers as players prioritised other commitments.

He said: “The squad is young, we’ve brought in a lot of lads from the under-18s teams.

“It’s very rewarding to see the younger guys develop so I am looking forward to that.

“One of my big issues of last year was inconsistency of players attending games and training but we’ve spoken to the players and hopefully that issue is put to bed. We’ll need all 20 players and even if lads are not in the team they will get their chance – we are in holiday season at the moment so there will be opportunities.”

The club have added new drainage to a problem area of the Ribbesford Meadow pitch to fix a long standing problem at the ground.