ANDOVER New Street are hoping youth will hold the key to a successful season as they prepare to make a long trip down to the Isle of Wight for their opening game.

The Wessex League Division One side will kick off their league campaign with an away fixture against East Cowes Victoria this Saturday and will be hoping they can get off to a winning start against a team who picked up just five points all season last year.

Street, who had a mixed season themselves, finished 20 points ahead of Cowes, beating the islanders 4-3 away and drew 1-1 at home.

However, New Street manager Paul Reidy is taking nothing for granted.

He said: “It’s a long journey which of course makes it a tough fixture.

“We finished last season really strongly and I am hoping we can carry that into the new season.”

The club, who finished their league campaign with five wins from their last 10 games, have had a mixed pre-season so far, winning one out of their four games while also taking a 4-1 battering by neighbours Andover Town.

However, there were also positive results with a pleasing 2-1 win against Dorset League side Mere Town and a hard fought draw against Hampshire Premier League side Colden Common.

There have also been positives in the club’s transfer business as well with the club retaining the likes of Keiron Le-Brun and Harry Lawton while adding former Lions pair Nick Dadds and Sam Pike to their line-up.

Talking about the club’s pre-season Reidy said: “We’ve played a young side a couple of times in pre-season.

“We are putting out three sides this year and have a massive youth set-up at the club and we are hoping to tap into that.

“We’ve retained every player from last year and are promoting players from our youth side up into our first team which is something we really want to do more of.

“So I think it’s going to be a positive season for us.”

New Street face their first home tie at Foxcotte Park this weekend when they play Laverstock and Ford.