Hamilton Accies friendly win delights Caledonian Braves boss as his side kick-off pre-season
Caledonian Braves boss Ricky Waddell says he got what he hoped for as his side beat Hamilton Accies 2-1 in a closed doors friendly at Ravenscraig on Saturday.
Goals from Lennon Walker and Marc Kelly gave Braves the win over League One Accies, and Waddell was delighted with their start to pre-season.
He said: 'It was good, it was our first game. I'm not sure how many games Accies had played, but it was a good test for us.
'I was excited for the game, because I felt it would be a good opportunity for us to show what we can do, and I think we did that, we won the game 2-1.
'We had spells when we were really good, we had spells when we really had to defend, so it was an excellent game for us.
'I was quite impressed by Accies in general, in terms of how they played the game and things like that, but I was impressed with ourselves as well.
'It was a good start off for us, not only the result, but to see the characteristics that I wanted to see from the guys.'
Braves will continue their pre-season programme with a closed-doors game against Clyde, an official friendly against West of Scotland Premier Division side Shotts Bon Accord, before heading to England for clashes against Morpeth Town and Workington Town.
Waddell's side will end their programme against Largs Thistle, ahead of the Lowland League kick-off.
The Braves boss said: 'Pre-season has been good so far. We've got a couple of games, so we have a good pre-season planned. So far so good, hopefully not really any injuries, though there are one or two as usual.
'Our last game of the pre-season calendar is against Largs Thistle, which will need to be away, because our pitch isn't done yet, so we're busy!
'Everybody's back in good shape. They've had four weeks off, which isn't really that much.
'We finished on May 23, so it was pretty much exactly four weeks before we were back, but they're young guys anyway, so they don't lose too much fitness.
'They've all come back fit, and they know what to expect anyway – it would be a hard time for them if they're coming back not in good shape.
'We don't hammer them, but at the same time, pre-season is tough, it's designed to be tough, to get them up to a level of fitness where they can go and attack the season.'
Waddell is running the rule over former Queen's Park and East Kilbride midfielder Calum Biggar as he looks to shape his squad.
He said: 'Recruitment is pretty much done. I have one other player in, Calum Biggar has come in from East Kilbride, who I know quite well.
'I just need to look at the full squad. We don't have a player like Calum, but I need to look at the numbers, budget as well and that's all going to come into it.
'Calum got in touch with myself, I know him. I tried to get Calum a couple of years ago when he went to East Kilbride, and we touched base over the summer there and I told him to come in.
'He's certainly not on trial, I know exactly what Calum can do, but it's so I can get a look at him in amongst our group and get a chat with him and see what he's feeling about the place.
'I'm not looking to recruit too much more, if anything, one more at the max, and that would be the only one I would be looking at, at the minute.'
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