ROMSEY Town boss Danny Barker is happy with his team ahead of tonight’s Sydenhams Wessex Premier Division opener at title favourites Sholing, writes Peter Howard.

Barker will have the majority of his squad available, including the goalscorers from Saturday’s 3-1 Sydenhams League Cup win over Pewsey - Danny Phillips, Craig Bryant and Jack Garner.

But new signings Sol Asajile and Josh Green are doubts for the Boatmen’s clash - the former picking up a slight back injury against Pewsey and the latter struggling to shake off a hamstring problem. Barker feels his Bypass boys performed well on Saturday and is relishing the first fixture of the league season.

“We defended well, the fitness was there and we should have had three or four past them by half-time,” he said.

“But a win’s a win and it’s job done. We were in control of the game from the outset and there were lots of good points to take from it.

“I’m confident going into the Sholing match and I want to see how far we can get. We played some lovely football on Saturday, but we’ve got two tough games coming up with Moneyfields (at home on Saturday) too.”

Former Southern League outfit Sholing, who thrashed Division One side US Portsmouth 9-0 in the Cup on Friday, are still without injured centre-back Pete Castle.

Boatmen’s boss Dave Diaper is looking forward to welcoming attacking midfielder Jack McCarthy back to the Silverlake Arena tonight following his summer move to Romsey.

“I’ve got a lot of time for Jack, he’s a very good player, but opportunities in midfield were going to be restricted this year,” he said. “While players are happy to sit on the bench in the Southern League, they’re not so happy to do it in the Wessex League when they know they can walk into another team in their own right.”