Notts County manager Luke Williams hopes that the preparations his side have made ahead of their National League opener will bridge the financial gap to their promotion rivals.
Williams says that naturally the club want to go 'one better' than their play-off defeat last season and that preparing right could see them compete with the likes of Wrexham who have more financial clout. Notts open their National League campaign at home to Maidenhead United on Saturday and Williams said that the financial gap can be closed.
"We need to be prepared the best we can and make sure nothing is left to chance wherever we can," said Williams.
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"Of course in football there are uncontrollables in the game, we all understand that. The bare minimum we can do is to try and be organised and practice a lot how we want to play. Yes one or two clubs will be able to lure players with finances and so on but we are competitive.
"What we have less in terms of finances with a few clubs we can try to make up that territory with our preparation and our work."
The Magpies have not always had the best season openers with just one win in the past six years on the opening day which came with a 5-0 at Barnet last season. Williams says that while a win on Saturday won't define their season it would be the 'ideal start'.
"We're all raring to go now," he added.
"I think a win would be an ideal start. Over the course of the season it's not probably going to the be all and end all, but certainly we want to get off on the right foot and we want to win in front of our fans at home.
"We want the players to play with intensity and we want them to be really exciting on the pitch. If the fans can create an atmosphere for us then hopefully it will allow us to perform in that way. Of course we need to do our bit first and give them something to cheer about.
"We need to be bright, play quickly on the pitch and we need to be ferocious defensively to give them the perfect opportunity for them to join in and be loud."
Notts finished last season in fifth place 12 points behind champions Stockport County before losing out in the play-off quarter-finals to eventually winners Grimsby Town after extra-time. Williams says the club's aim is to improve on last year's achievement.
"We don't want to look too far ahead," he added.
"We need to make sure we get our performances right from the beginning and we are certainly hoping to go a step further. That's a long time in the future, we need to really focus on the immediate."
During the summer influential midfielder Cal Roberts was sold to Aberdeen after the Scottish Premiership side met the asking price. Williams hopes to make a signing to replace the midfielder but says that new arrival Sam Austin, from Kidderminster Harriers in the summer, has been 'very promising' in that role.
"It's impossible to lose a player of that quality and for it not to have an effect, but the team will evolve in Callum's absence," added Williams.
"What we've seen of Sam Austin in the last couple of performances playing in that role has been very promising. We started immediately to look at a possible replacement for Callum when he left.
"We have a couple of options that we're looking at and potentially will bring a player in to bolster us in that position as well, behind midfield."
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