NUMBER one Michael Ingham believes that with the squad Tadcaster Albion are pulling together they should be challenging for the play-offs at least.

Former York City goalkeeper Ingham, now 37, has kicked off his 20th pre-season campaign in the professional game, and believes it will be one of his toughest after his lengthy spell on the sidelines last term.

Nevertheless he has been impressed by the quality of the new players and the standard in training so far under the new mangement team of Michael Morton and assistant Simon Collins, some of the sessions now taking place at York St John University's state-of-the-art facilities in Haxby Road, York.

And the former Northern Ireland international believes a good season is afoot in Evo-Stik League division one north, preparations being boosted by Saturday's 2-0 win over Knaresborough Town in a friendly at York St John.

Said Ingham: “The new signings seem like a good bunch of lads, and the standard of training has been very high - Mikey and Si have put on a couple of great sessions.

"It seems like we’re going to have a good changing room this year. I just need to get up to the fitness of everyone else as quickly as possible.

"Personally it was good to blow the cobwebs off (on Saturday). It was the first time I’ve hit the floor in nine months so it felt good to get the gloves back on and feel the ball.

"I think that with the additions this year we should definitely be in and around the play-offs at least and I just want to play a big part in what will hopefully be a successful season.”

Ingham knows the new management team well given he works with them daily at the i2i academy that owns the football club.

“I’ve never worked during the day for my gaffer so that’ll be a new thing for me - hopefully we won’t have any problems otherwise it’ll be awkward at work on the Monday morning," he joked. "I’m sure we’ll have some good banter in the office.

"I think the good thing they’ve done is obviously change training to two sessions a week and they changed the venue to a great facility in York St John’s.

"I know how Mikey and Si work. Technically they are very good, they’ll bring on players and I like the way they’ve integrated the young lads into the squad.

"Overall it’s a good move by Tad - they will definitely learn a lot this year.”

Ingham suffered a season-ending foot injury last October.

He said: “It’s probably one of the toughest pre-seasons I’ve done because I’ve had the injury that kept me out for nine months last year but I don’t really let it frustrate me with the season just six weeks away.

"I think there will be mistakes in pre-season because of the rustiness but my eyes are already on the first game of the season so as long as I’m 100 per cent fit and firing for that, that’s all I’m worried about.

“I turned 37 on Sunday and the body feels alright, the foot feels okay. I will get a bit of soreness - it’s just getting that flexibility back.

"The specialist said I’ll have that for another six to seven months but it has completely healed. He said my muscles were like a 21-year-old so that’s good news and I’m not envisaging any further problems.

"It was strange because I felt like I was doing well (before the injury), I felt like I was flying and contributing to the team.

"Nevertheless that’s behind me now. Hopefully this season I can play up to 45 games. You’re always going to get that thing from fans now because of my age - ‘he’s passed it’ - but there are plenty more years left in me and even if I start off slow because of the break I won’t get frustrated because I know I can still play for another few years.”

Taddy face Doncaster Rovers on Saturday before taking on former boss Paul Marshall's Pickering Town on July 19.

They then host Spennymoor and Leeds United under-23s in quick succession, followed by a trip to Evo-Stik north rivals Brighouse, before rounding off their pre-season fixtures at Garforth.

Ingham added: “I’m not really looking forward to pre-season games because I’m not fit at the moment. I'd love to carry on where I left off last season but that would probably be a little bit naïve. Hopefully I’ll be back firing again as quick as I can.

"I’ve got my own personal targets that I keep to myself. I was well on course for that last season and I just want to contribute to the team with clean sheets and get us back up to where I think we should be with a fresh looking squad."