Witham Hockey Club men’s first-team captain Richard Marshall is looking for a strong run up to Christmas from his team before setting out any East League division two south promotion targets this year.

Despite his team only finishing just three points short of securing a move up last season, the Witham skipper knows that it will be a tough prospect this time around.

It has been a mixed start to the campaign with last weekend’s 4-1 win against Bekhamsted being Witham’s first victory after a defeat and a draw in their first two outings.

And with the club trying to introduce younger players into the first-team ranks this year, Marshall wasn’t being drawn into saying they were gunning for promotion.

He said: “It hasn’t been too bad, but it still hasn’t been the best of starts.

“It was good to get our first win and hopefully we’re back in the swing of things now.

“Pre-season was hard as a number of players were still involved with cricket and with Witham Cricket Club doing well, there was no chance of getting hold of them early.

“However, it is looking a bit smoother now and we can get a settled team.

“We also have some youngsters come in with James Wiffin and Matt Fish, who both play Essex Under-16 hockey, as it’s a good opportunity to get them integrated into the first team.

“They will hopefully be the future of the club and have done really well so far, as has Michael Roberts, who is another young player and has got four goals so far.

“But we know it will be a tough season as the standard is high in this league now.

“Promotion will obviously come down to how we can perform and that will depend on getting people to training and working on their fitness.

“I won’t say promotion is the target, but we’ll take each game as it comes, look to enjoy it and if we are there or thereabouts at Christmas then we can maybe think about it.”