FC United ready for season opener with Gloucester

FC United manager Karl Marginson has named an 18 man squad to travel to Cheltenham to take on Gloucester City on Saturday as the Reds make their Vanarama Conference League North debut.

The Northern Premier League champions are in good spirits after a decent pre-season which has seen them go the last five games without defeat. The Reds will now tackle the Tigers for the first ever time as they begin their 11th season in unchartered territory.

Our hosts finished 14th in the division last season and will be looking to get their season off to a winning start against the new boys.

Margy is looking forward to the challenge and is confident that he has made some good additions to his title winning squad, in particular with Sean Cooke, Cameron Murray and Adam Thurston.

He said: "I think it’s going to be a really tough season. As always, people are going to raise their game when they play against us because of who we are, but this year we are going to face teams who have that extra bit of quality.

"That said, we know that on our day, if we stick to what we do best, we will be a match for any team in this division. Everyone at the club is really looking forward to the challenge."

Only Chris Lynch and Matt Walwyn are unavailable for FC United due to recovering from injury but both will travel with the squad.