“THE future is looking bright for Pickering Town.”

So said Pickering owner Wayne Taylor when reflecting upon his club’s start to the new season.

Steve Roberts has overseen a major overhaul of the squad during his first summer as manager, with only one player from the 2019/20 remaining at the club.

Primarily the former Scarborough Athletic boss, who took the Pickering job in January, has brought in a host of young players, a group which he hopes can develop together over a number of seasons.

And Taylor expressed his optimism about the future at Mill Lane and insisted that time needed to be given to the youngsters.

“I’m not getting too frustrated because there is only one player at this present moment that was involved with us last year,” he said. “It’s going to take time for the team to gel.

“And the average age of our starting 11 for most of the season has been 23, so they’re only a very young side. The future is looking bright for Pickering Town.”

Having spent the vast majority of last season rooted to the bottom of the Northern Premier League north/west division table, the Pikes have enjoyed a better start to this term.

Though seven points from nine matches doesn’t seen an overly impressive total, Taylor has been encouraged by the nature of the performances.

Taylor said: “We’re playing good football but we’re not getting the results that the football is showing. It’s a tough league and it has been every year since we’ve made the step up.

“There are no easy games and you’ve got to take every game as a cup final. There’s a very thin margin from the bottom to the top.

“It’s hard work for the management staff and ourselves and it’s disappointing when you’re getting beat.

“But the positive thing is that we’ve been playing reasonably good football, we’ve just not been getting the results that I think that we’ve deserved.

“There have been games where we’ve been outclassed by the opposition and you can see that there’s a good gap between us and them.

“But for the majority of the season, we’ve been playing good football and I believe that it’ll come good for us.”

Elsewhere, Pickering have signed midfielder Jordan Deacey ahead of their anticipated return to the field next month.

The Pikes are currently out of action amid the country’s second national lockdown, with November fixtures currently postponed.

The club are hoping to return to action in the Pitching In Northern Premier League north/west division on Saturday, December 5 when they are scheduled to make the trip to Widnes.

And Pickering may hand a debut to new recruit Deacey who has joined the club from fellow NPL north/west division outfit Brighouse Town.

Deacey, who plays primarily as a left-midfielder, has a range of experience in non-league, having previously played for Bradford (Park Avenue), AFC Telford, Boston United, Shaw Lane, Farsley Celtic, North Ferriby United, Belper Town, Scarborough Athletic and most recently Brighouse.

Pickering manager Steve Roberts said: “I’m very pleased to welcome Jordan to the club, he has a wealth of non-league experience and will help strengthen our squad. He works hard and has a lot of quality in possession."