DAN MOORE is confident that Buckley Town are as prepared as possible for their home tie against Colwyn Bay.

The Bucks play host to Craig Hogg’s men at Globe Way on Saturday in what will be both sides first competitive match in over nine months.

“We are obviously looking forward to playing a competitive match, because we haven’t played one since March 7,” said Buckley boss Moore.

“We are as well-prepared as we could be for the game. We’ve used the time pretty well, in my opinion, and managed to get quite a lot of detail over to the players.

“We won’t be as fit as we need to be, or would like to have been, for a competitive game, for obvious reasons.

“We’ve played a few friendlies over the past couple of weeks, which have helped in our preparations, but nowhere to the level we would like to have been at this stage prior to a competitive game.

“There will be a few new faces making their debuts, all being well, so we are looking forward to seeing how they get on. They’ve been in the group since the summer, so we think they will be fine. We are as prepared as we can be.”

Visiting Bay have lost the likes of Tom McCready and Mitch Bryant since the end of last season, players heading across the border in search of competitive football with the English leagues starting back earlier.

Moore added: “In terms of Colwyn Bay. We are aware that they are going to be a good team, despite the fact that we know that a few of their players left.

“We still expect a tough game, we know they are going to have a good team and we know they are going to be well-organised.

“Obviously we are not too sure in terms of personnel who they may bring or play, but we will cross that bridge tomorrow.

“Hopefully we are going to be in a position to adapt to anything that comes our way tomorrow based on who plays for Colwyn Bay and what formation and system they play

Bay boss Hogg, meanwhile, is just grateful for the return of competitive football - even if he has a depleted squad available.

Hogg, who will be looking to boost his playing numbers once the January transfer window opens, said: “More than anything I’m just really looking forward to seeing the lads back out on the pitch and we will be counting down the days.

“The game itself will actually be our first non-in-house 11 vs 11 since March and that in itself sounds bizarre when we are now in December.

“For a number of reasons we haven’t been able to play a friendly game, which isn’t ideal going into a cup competition, but we will be looking at the tie as part of our prep work before the season starts properly for us in January.

“The Buckley game will be a good opportunity to give the first team and U19 players some real competitive minutes against a good side which is always beneficial.

“That aside it is also a game of football we want to try and win.

“We know it is a big task ahead, of course, but make no mistake we will all be giving everything we can to try and progress through to the next round in February.”