Dario: Steve Has Worked Hard

Dario Gradi praised Steve Holland's work in his first match in charge, despite falling to a 3-0 defeat against Liverpool.

Holland took to the touchline for the first time today as he begins his first year 'in charge' of the first team affairs. Technical Director Dario Gradi was impressed with Holland's preparation for the game too, he told crewealex.net: 'Steve has worked very hard, he was very well prepared, every session he has the laptop out and moving the men about, his preparation has been excellent.

'The football they are trying to play is a progression of what we have been doing which is why the interchange of the staff is easy because the football doesn't change in detail, it's maybe just something here and there.'

The Alex though fell to a three-nil defeat against a strong Liverpool side, but with it being the first game of the pre-season Dario is far from unhappy with how the game went.

'We conceded the two goals early which was disappointing, it wasn't very exciting for the crowd I'm afraid, not as entertaining as it has been before. We have people that we need to bed in so it was good from that point of view.'

However, with Lowe & Pope having unimpressed in their allocated time, Dario believes it's now time to step up the search for a 'big striker' to partner Nicky Maynard.

He told crewealex.net: 'We need to try and find a bit of beef up front, we have to make sure the centre halves don't make the mistake, so the search for the striker goes on.'

The Alex continue their pre-season warm-up with two games on Wednesday night. A team will travel to Quorn for a 7:45pm kick off whilst another team will travel to Alsager for a 7:30pm kick off.