JOINT manager Wayne Oliver is keeping his feet on the ground about Droitwich Spa FC’s ambitions in the Midlands Division Two this season, despite an encouraging summer.

Spa head into the 2015-16 season full of confidence after a productive close season.

Oliver and managerial partner Mark Owen have retained all of the squad which finished the previous campaign so strongly, with the likes of highly-rated James Lemon, Macauley Finch and James Ward all staying put.

Last year, Spa had their best season ever at this level, shaking off the tag of perennial relegation-battlers to finish eighth.

While expectations have been lifted around the club, Oliver remains realistic.

He said: “All we can hope for is to make a good start and go from there.

“Pre-season has gone well, we’ve worked the players very hard and we’ve played well in our friendles, even against Stourbridge, Redditch and Worcester City.

“We’ve also managed to hold onto all of the players, which is great.

“But I do think that this will be a very tough season, you can expect Paget Rangers, Barnt Green Spartak and Alvis Sporting all to be challenging at the very top.

“We’ve set our personal targets and we should be looking at a top six finish, but we’ll see how the season works out.”

Sporting have completed their pre-season friendly programme and enjoyed wins over Pershore, Southam and Racing Club Warwick.

They lost 7-2 to Redditch United but had taken a 2-0 lead before their Southern League opponents showed their class.

Against Worcester, they went down 3-1 but had been on level terms until a late own goal and penalty handed City the win.

Oliver added: “Even against the higher-ranked sides we’ve been in games, so that is pleasing.

“You can’t predict our season from these games, but the performances were encouraging.”

Droitwich kick-off the season at home to Hampton Sports on Saturday, August 15.

The players are being given a week off after what has been an intense period of pre-season training.

Oliver added: “The lads have worked very hard.”