MICK Hoyle's mission is quite clear - he aims to see Kendal finish the coming season mid-table and clear of the relegation worries that have dogged the team for the last few years.

"That is what the directors have asked for and that that is what we need to achieve, although in the dressing room we feel we can do a bit better than that."

There is certainly a new feeling of optimism around Parkside, with a largely new and very determined looking squad, a new 999 year lease signed on the ground, and ambitious financial plans which could see the demolition of the rickety old corrugated iron shelters on two sides of the ground and creation of brand-new changing facilities.

Hoyle is also more than pleased with the way his players have performed in pre-season training, undefeated in a sseries of pre-season friendlies, including a

3-0 victory over Accrington Stanley, despite the Premier Division side pushing on eight or nine first choice players as they fruitlessly sought to contain new look Town.

Yet Hoyle knows that pre-season games count for little and the

real business begins tomorrow when Stocks-bridge Park Steels provide the first test in a run of three home games at Parkside.

With Trafford the next visitors on Tuesday night Town should get a very quick assessment of their level within Division One, for Stocksbridge and Trafford finished fourth and fifth in the table last season and have both spent the summer building squads which they hope will this year lift them to Premier status.

"Despite being at home they will be very difficult games," says Hoyle, but added that he believes the hard training put in by his squad since he was appointed in June has already welded them into a unit which can put some valuable early points on the board.

"We will be playing a

4-4-2 system, with two wide lads overlapping.

It is the system I believe in and the one on which we have worked pre-season," he said.

Hoyle was unwilling to reveal his starting line-up prior to the match saying that all 20 players had been ordered to turn up with both match kit and training kit.

"I will name my 14 on the day and six will be disappointed, but they will train for an hour before the match then watch it from the stand," he said.

He envisaged, , that it would not be long before the majority of the squad got the call, however, as inevitable injuries and suspensions took their toll.

"For instance Peter Smith and Stuart Parkinson are both carrying suspensions from last season which will start the following week," he said.