One of the success stories of Blyth Spartans remarkable 2014/15 campaign was the successful transition from midfielder to centre back of Ryan Hutchinson.
The former Motherwell and Morpeth Town youngster quickly established himself as a key part of Tom Wade’s lineup and played a big role in the FA Cup run that took the club all of the way to the third round.
However an injury caused Hutchinson to miss the last eight games of the season, with Danny Parker and new addition Stuart Bramley taking over responsibility at the heart of the Spartans back four.
But now Hutchinson is determined to make up for play time and is targeting a return to pre-season training and admitted that promotion is his aim for the new campaign.
“Obviously missing the last eight games, with the play-off push and the Senior Cup Final, was frustrating. I think back and it feels like I have already had my summer break so I can’t wait to get back to pre-season training and make up for lost time.
We had a good season last year but we know that it has to be a start point and we want to build on it, we want to get promotion and that is my target”
Although Hutchinson admitted he feels like he has already had his break he did reveal that he was looking forward to the summer break, albeit a break where he will keep an eye on the return to pre-season training in just over a month’s time.
“You just try to keep yourself ticking over in the gym and keep yourself close to fitness. Obviously you want the break and you enjoy it but you always have an eye on next season, you have to be ready to start pre-season and hit the ground running when the season starts”
Carlisle United will be Spartans first pre-season opponents as the SkyBet League Two side travel to Croft Park in the second week of July.
And Hutchinson insisted that, although winning is a bonus, the main focus in pre-season is to “get the right performances”.
“Mainly you want to get the right performances in and results are a bit secondary, obviously you want to win games but the main thing is being ready for the first league game”