REDDITCH United boss Ian King praised the hard work that's been put in to get his side ready for the new Southern League Central season.

Reds start the new campaign by welcoming Banbury to the Trico Stadium this Saturday (3pm kick-off).

While they suffered a 2-0 defeat against a youthful Aston Villa side in their final pre-season friendly last weekend, King says his side are ready for the campaign curtain raiser.

He said: "We are ready for the new season and have worked very hard over pre-season to get to this stage.

"We're at the stage where we know how we want to play and have got the system and players in place.

"I've also got an idea of which particular players will play in certain positions. The players have been challenged to earn their place over the last few weeks and to stake their claim.

"We'll have a few training sessions this week and it'll just be about putting the final touches to everything.

"Being at home gives us a chance to start well. Hopefully we can get a lot of fans to come down and support us. It was great to see some new faces as well as the junior teams and their parents here against Aston Villa.

"It was pleasing to see 550 there on Saturday for a pre-season friendly. Even though we didn't win the game, we worked hard and did create quite a few chances. Hopefully the fans saw that and the work we've been doing."

King is hopeful of landing two more loan players before this weekend, adding: "We managed to secure a couple of loan signings in the form of Dan Sweeney and Callum Coyle and we'll try and do the same with a couple of others players that have been with us over pre-season.

"They have been with us so it won't be like bringing in completely new faces so close to the season."

Redditch have a clean bill of health as they approach the opening day contest.