“If you don’t score goals, you don’t win games,” Warrington Town boss Paul Carden told fans at a Q&A session last weekend.
Having plundered a league and club record 121 in their championship winning season in 2015/16, the Yellows could only managed 65 in 46 games last term.
That was despite keeping Ciaran Kilheeney and Ben Deegan from the season before, and adding the likes of James Dean in the summer.
Of course, that was before Carden arrived at the club, though even he found goals hard to come by – even with the additions of Danny Hattersley, Samuel Ilesamni and Ruben Jerome, who scored a handful of crucial goals off the bench to fire the Yellows in to play-off contention.
So when it came to recruiting for next season, strikers were high on the agenda.
In has come experienced striker Tony Gray, who Carden says he has known for a long time.
“A couple of seasons ago he was with Telford and in a struggling team scored 20 odd goals.
“He’s a clever player. His movement is good, he’s deceptive in the air, he’s never had blistering pace but he makes up for that with his timing.
“We’re really pleased to get him in, as he had a lot of offers from elsewhere.”
Following Gray was Josh Hine, who made the move from Salford City, a switch that caught a lot of attention when it was announced at the recent Evo-Stik League Annual Dinner in Blackpool.
Carden added: “Josh is the big one if you like. He had a frustrating time at Salford. He started like a house on fire then had a bad injury.
“He had to pay for his operation himself and get back to full fitness, and the fact he did all that off his own back tells you a lot about his character.
“He is someone I’ve been after for a few months, so it was great to get the deal done.”
As well as the new pair, Carden revealed that Jerome has returned to the club for pre-season.
He said: “Ruben is a good lad who can kick on now. You’ve seen the size of him, his pace, he can score with both feet, and now he just needs to grow as a player. There were a few times last season where he said he was suffering with his ankle, but I think he needs to learn you rarely play 100% fit.
“He’s had offers from elsewhere, had trials, but he wants to get his head down and be part of what we’re doing here.”
Warrington Town start their pre-season campaign with a trip to Barnton on Tuesday July 11 (7.45pm kick-off).
