Defender Scott Blackmore is happy with the shape Inglewood United is taking for the coming season.   Blackmore and his team mates commence their Night Series campaign on Friday evening against Sorrento in what will be new coach Trim Morgan’s first competitive game in charge.

Morgan has retained the bulk of last year’s squad to which he’s added a few select recruits in lively attackers Chok Dau and Hamza Hina along with defensive-minded pair Sammie Riak and Mark Barnett.   Striker Alex Salmon, who has joined Victorian club Green Gully, is the only major departure.

“On the whole, there haven’t been wholesale changes to the squad and we’ve been lucky enough to keep most of the players that were with us last year,” Blackmore commented.   “I think there’s a little bit of a younger feel to the squad this year, or maybe it’s just me getting older.”

“We’ve got some solid acquisitions through the midfield, and we perhaps have more options and flexibility for pace and penetration out on the wings.   Having those creative players is going to be necessary to replace the goals we’ve lost from last season, but that looks achievable given the players we’ve got.”

“The new faces have fitted in well and we’ll continue to build the cohesion through the squad as we spend more time together.   It’s been really great to see some of the new lads fall straight in with the rest of us so well … it’s going to be exciting to see what we can do together this year.”

“We go into the Night Series looking to get some game time under our belts, and build on our style of play heading into the season proper.   You never really know how things stack up until you start getting back into competitive fixtures, but we are looking forward to getting it all underway and seeing how far we can go.”