Heath Hayes line up big friendlies

Heath Hayes will host four Evo-Stik Northern Premier League sides in the space of 10 days next month with star striker Dave Waple leading the charge.

Hayes have confirmed Waple - the Golden Boot winner in the Midland Alliance with 26 goals last season - is set to stay for the new campaign.

And the Hayes' hot-shot will be only too keen to test himself out against the opposing defenders coming to the Coppice Colliery Ground in pre-season.

First up are Hednesford on Saturday July 14 before Chasetown - relegated to the Evo-Stik NPL First Division South - arrive on the Tuesday night.

Next in town are Stafford Rangers on the Thursday evening before Rushall Olympic complete the quartet the following Tuesday, on July 24.

A local derby against neighbours Brocton rounds up their home friendlies on Saturday July 28 and boss Simon Davies hopes it will raise cash.

He said: "We have been fortunate to have all of these sides come down to play us in pre-season over recent years.

"But we have never played all four of them in one pre-season, so we are grateful to them for that.

"Hopefully, we will get a few people through the gate and get a bit of money in the club's coffers.

"This could set us up for the season, we would like to think it could get us through to Christmas."

The Hayes chief is starting his seventh season in charge and much of that time was spent with Ben Haseley leading the attack.

Haseley left to join Halesowen in January, where he has been a hit, and Waple has been told by his manager he could follow suit.

Davies said: "There's been a lot of interest in Dave, so we are quite proud that we have been able to keep him.

"Ben played for us for six years and, eventually, someone took a chance on him and he has done really well.

"We have used him as an example to other players, we might be their stepping stone to bigger and better things."

The club have also issued a plea for more volunteers to get involved with the club for the new season.

Davies said: "There's numerous things we need doing, such as maintaining the ground and helping out on match-day.

"They can also get involved on the football side, as well, such as coming along and being a kit manager.

"Another one would be to look after our website and help us to get more involved with Facebook and Twitter.

"There's lots of varied roles to suit different generations."