Published: Thursday, 4th June, 2009 12:30pm

Carty joy at step four reprieve

by Charles Watts

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Bracknell Town boss Kerthney Carty is delighted that the Robins will be playing step four football next season.

BRACKNELL Town boss Kerthney Carty says preparations for the new campaign can now begin after the club was told it will still be playing in step four of the non-league structure next season.

The Robins had looked set for relegation to step five after finishing second from bottom of British Gas Division One (South & West) last term.

But they were granted a reprieve following discussions at the Football Association last week due to league restructuring and other clubs going out of business.

The news has come as a major boost for everyone involved with the Larges Lane outfit, especially Carty who will now step up his plans for rebuilding over the summer.

He said: 'Obviously I"m very happy. I had it in the back of my mind that it would happen but you never know, there was always a chance we could have gone down.

'It dragged on for a while but since the news came out we have had phone calls from players who are looking to play at this level.

'That"s encouraging, it"s good to hear players saying they want to play for you. It"s all about networking now, seeing what"s out there.

'But I"m looking for local players anyway, we don"t just want to get people in from outside the area.'

Carty has also left the door open for players involved with last season"s squad to return.

He added: 'It"s been hard to talk to them because we didn"t know if we would be staying up or going down.

'But the door is open to everyone - if they want to stay then that"s great.'

Next season"s line-up for Division One South & West is: AFC Hayes, AFC Totton, Abingdon United, Andover, Bedfont Green, Bishops Cleeve, Bracknell Town, Bridgwater Town, Cinderford Town, Cirencester Town, Frome Town, Gosport Borough, Hungerford Town, Mangotsfield United, North Leigh, Paulton Rovers, Taunton Town, Thatcham Town, Uxbridge, VT FC, Windsor & Eton, Yate Town.

* Bracknell have announced their pre-season friendlies ahead of the 2009/10 campaign.

They will take part in the Hillingdon Borough Tournament on Friday, July 17 and Saturday, July 18 alongside Hillingdon Borough, Hendon and Slough Town.

The others are as follows: Fleet Spurs (a), July 21; Badshot Lea (a) & Shrivenham (a), July 25; Sandhurst Town (a), July 28; Binfield (a) & Castle Vale (a), August 1; Fleet Town (a), August 4.

They will complete their friendlies with a home game against as yet un-named opponents on August 8.

Long-serving club stalwart Ben Edwards has been granted a testimonial by the club which will see a Bracknell Town Allstar XI face an Aldershot Town Allstar XI at Larges Lane on Sunday, August 9.