Steve Morison ready for pre-season action at Hornchurch

New Hornchurch boss Steve Morison is looking forward to the start of pre-season action after four weeks in the managerial hotseat at Bridge Avenue.

Urchins head to Barking for their opening friendly this weekend, before hosting Dagenham & Redbridge a week later on July 15.

They travel to St Ives Town (July 22) and welcome Braintree Town (July 25), before visiting Redbridge (July 28) and are close to confirming new opponents on August 5 after their scheduled match with East Thurrock was cancelled.

“We’re looking forward to the games and hope they stand us in good stead,” said Morison.

“It’s more than enough games in pre-season. We’ve had time to work on the training ground and now the games are ramping up.

“We’ve got another one lined up for August 5 which will be good for all involved and a nice one to finish on before the league starts.”

Morison was only announced as the successor to Mark Stimson on June 8, but has been able to work with a largely settled group of players.

Mickey Parcell, Charlie Stimson, Lamar Joseph-Johnson, Rickie Hayles, Chris Dickson, Jamie Mascoll and Ola Ogunwamide have all moved on, but Urchins have retained the core of their squad and added Nathan Green, Ryan Scott, Jack Leahy, Quentin Monville and Harry Seaden, with George Saunders and Jack Munns returning after previous spells at the club.

And Morison feels that familiarity will be important as they look to push for promotion from the Isthmian League once again, having lost in the play-off final for the past two seasons.

“We wanted a nice settled squad in place before our first session and we’ve been working with that, working hard,” he added.

“It was a very good squad and it was a case of can we improve and freshen it up. Lots of them know each other and they’ve been successful which is very positive for all involved.

“From my point of view, it was getting them in as quickly as possible and not having trialists throughout pre-season.

“The lads have been excellent, I’ve really enjoyed training, they’ve really enjoyed it.

“We want to work every session on what we want to do and get a real togetherness.

“The key to any successful team is one that’s tight and united. If you’re disrupting that with new people in games you don’t get that rhythm and you’re chasing your tail.”

Having played close to 700 games and scored nearly 250 goals during a successful playing career, from Conference South up to the Premier League, Morison made his managerial bow at Championship club Cardiff City towards the end of 2021.

And the 39-year-old is now looking to make his mark in Essex, adding: “The club is going in the right direction.

“We’re trying to push, build the brand and put as much pressure on ourselves as possible, getting people to stand up and take notice, and hopefully get Hornchurch on the map.”