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"Opening with a home game is important and out of our first three matches in the league, only one is away. That gives us a chance to make a good start. We need to send our fans home happy after our first two home games. People who have followed us away from home have had their money's worth over the last couple of years, but we do need to address our home results.
"If you can win those early home league games, it makes the table early on look a whole lot better. Our opener's a tough one. If you lose in the play-offs - especially in the manner in which Carlisle did - then sometimes if you aren't careful there can be a bit of a hangover the next season, especially if you have pretty much the same players and management.
"Like us, Carlisle didn't finish the season well. They didn't finish it as badly as we did, but they still didn't finish great. But John Ward is a very, very capable manager so he will have addressed that. And whatever changes they have made over the summer, they will be very difficult to beat - simply because John is in charge of them.
"Wayne (Andrews) is unfortunately still some way off being fully fit. It is not a medical thing for him - the problem is the rehabilitation work that he has missed and he has to get himself up to speed. We still feel the same about him when he is ready to play, but any deal would depend on what situation we were in when that time comes around.
"We would have to assess what gaps we needed to fill at that time. It would be September at the earliest before anything might occur on that front. It's far and away better than at any time since I've been here.
"As it looks now, we will have no excuse for not being able to pass and play. What it looks like in four months time we will have to see. I've heard no negatives at all from the players about the pitch. Credit to the board because something needed to be done about it, and they have done it."