Reserves are back against Manchester City

Ali Akbar scored the goal that night as the curtain came down on the season, and the team that night highlighted the problem that forced the club into taking action by pulling out of the Pontin's Holiday League.

Assistant manager Dave Kevan said at the time of the decision: "This is a welfare issue. What was happening is that a large group of young players, many aged 16, have been playing two or three times a week.

"Often, I feel as though those players kept coming up against the same group of players at youth and reserve level. It wasn't as if there was a rise in the level. It was often just a case of two teams fulfilling a fixture and nobody gaining anything from it. That is not going to enhance the chances of teenagers making it into our first team."

Ali Akbar - scored our last reserve goal

A quick look at our squad that night against Chester strengthens Dave's argument. Of the fifteen players on duty there were eight apprentices, all of whom have now left the club. The other seven were all schoolboys, five of them from our Centre of Excellence Under-16 team and two, Ben Hoskin and Alex-Ray Harvey who were both members of the Under-15 team.

After one year away we are back in the league and tonight kick off the season with an away game against a Manchester City team in a game that will be played at the Regional Athletics Stadium at Eastlands, right across from the City of Manchester Stadium.

We've no indication of the team for tonight's team as yet, but it is more than likely that it will be a much more experienced side than the one that last played in this league. With a bigger first team squad now there is every chance that we will see some of them playing in the reserves, although two likely candidates this week, Steve Jones and Besart Berisha, are both away on international duty.

The game kicks off at 7:00 p.m. tonight, admission is £3 and you should enter the stadium via Gate 3.