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Our home game on Saturday 7 September against Oxford City has been postponed.

This is due to four of the Hoops' players being called up to international duty.

A new date for a rearranged fixture will be communicated shortly.

Leamington striker Tim Berridge sat down with local media on Thursday night ahead of Leamington's National League North fixture against Darlington on Saturday.

The 26 year old, who joined from Coalville Town in the summer, started the first two games of the season and made a substitute appearance in the Brakes' third fixture after being allowed a breather.

Looking ahead to the Darlington fixture, the striker said "I'm definitely looking forward to it! It's the first of the many long trips but I'm looking forward to it. We've started very well, I think we're unlucky not to have a couple more points on the board but the lads put a really good shift in against Alfreton on Tuesday, who are such a tough side to play, and it was good to get a win against one of the favourites to be up there in Spennymoor. We need to take that on against Darlington and we're looking for another three points."

Having spent six years at Coalville scoring 99 goals, Berridge made the decision to sign for the Brakes well before Coalville had contemplated resigning from the Southern League and was joined by team mate and skipper Joe Doyle-Charles in Warwickshire. "I settled in really quickly," Berridge added. "The lads are great with me, and having Joe here with me definitely helped as well.

"It's been a really good start, the gaffer's been great and I've settled in well. All I'm waiting for now is that goal to get me off the mark! We've played well and I'm really enjoying my football - that's the main thing and that's why we're able to pick up points here and there as a squad."

The support at Your Co-op Community Stadium has impressed the Nottingham born attacker, who said "The fans have been great. To get 600 down here is brilliant. Especially in the second half in both the games we've had at home so far, I think it's drawn the ball into that end - especially the second goal that Ant scored the other day... the noise, it was good, it's what we need and long may it continue. The fans have been great."

Photo: Tim Nunan

Chris Knott spoke to the local media ahead of Saturday's National League North fixture away at Darlington.

"It's a nice long trip," said the Leamington first team coach. "We're looking forward to it though. They've had a challenging start and we've certainly had that too with two of last season's top eight but there are far and away more positives than negatives going into the Bank Holiday games. I think we're building some momentum and the inexperience and vulnerabilities we might have with lads stepping up levels, we've also got lots of ex-pros. We can catch teams out.

"We've got a different dynamic going forward, so Darlington's one to look forward to with the first long haul of the season and then we come back on Monday for a bit of a local derby at home."

In Leamington's 2-2 draw with Alfreton Town on Tuesday night, Paul Holleran made four changes to his previously unchanged starting lineup and there has been lots of talk regarding the strength in depth of the Brakes side this season. 

Knott agreed, saying "I'm into my fourth season at the club now, and the squad depth is the strongest we've had. We've got at least eighteen players this season already who all, including the likes of Ant who's stepped up from two levels below and Teddy coming out of academy football and lots of others, who can easily step into a starting position straight away. When they are used, they will have earnt that spot - they're doing great work at the moment but we've also had momentum in our starters.

"I think having that depth is key and how we use it as a management team setup, obviously keeping everyone happy will be difficult, but certainly it's nice to see we made four changes the other night and still looked strong and confident. We'll need to make changes this weekend, of course, and as a management team we've got no qualms with that and no question marks on anyone's ability - it's just finding the right shape of the team. The other night we had to deal with long balls for 90 minutes with strong set plays, more physicality and this weekend Darlington will want to actually play football and we'll need legs to go up against them and then Rushall will be the same on Monday."

Attendances this season have been impressive, with the Alfreton crowd double the number that saw Leamington beat Berkhamsted last season in their first midweek fixture. A large part of the crowd on Tuesday night was made up of younger fans, and Knott - who is also Head of Football Development at Leamington - was delighted to see and hear the younger generation.

"It's massive. We've got a real pool of great youngsters who are starting to follow us. We're doing a lot of work in the community where we're getting ticket schemes out to our school partners and trying to build a fanbase to follow through. We're having a "fan for life" sort of motto. It's now brilliant to see them following us away as well as at home and last season, they got us over the line a number of times and we'll need them even more this season and hopefully across the season the crowds and number of youngsters builds and builds and we can get something on the pitch that they will look forward to coming and watching every week."

Photo: Chris Simpson