The Little Heath club will be managed by assistant boss Graham Vile while first team boss Paul Hughes is away.

Christleton have welcomed back central midfielder Craig Warrington who will strengthen the club's midfield department, and gave themselves a boost ahead of the season by beating Maine Road of the North West Counties League 1-0 in their annual pre-season friendly.

Vile, who has experience of coaching players at Chester and Vauxhall Motors, is looking forward to the start of the campaign.

He said: "We've had a good pre-season and we're nearly at full strength for our first game at Castrol.

"It's good to have Craig Warrington back at the club and I know we've got players like Kai Stockton and Kevin Garland who will strengthen our squad.

"I feel we've got to develop our squad of players a bit more before we can start talking about hopes of winning the title.

"We're trying to bring in new players because we have got to improve on last season. We would obviously be really pleased to finish in the top five, but we have a lot of rebuilding work to do."

Upton AA face a testing start to their Division One campaign at Maghull tomorrow.

Former player, Dave Wright, has taken over at the first team helm after John Cadwallader stepped down last season.

Wright said: "I'm missing several key players for our opening match which is a huge blow.

"Club captain Andrew Lloyd, Olly Robinson, Dave Roberts, and Luke Jackson are all ruled out, and it will be a tough opening game at Maghull, but we'll be digging deep and trying to get something from the match.

"We've done well in our pre-season games, but our preparation for tomorrow was hampered in the week when a scheduled friendly against Chester Nomads was called off.

"I know I've got big shoes to fill after John decided to step down. He did brilliantly in both league and cup competitions.

"My goals for the club this season are to help retain the first team's status in Division One, and to see our reserves win promotion to Division Two.

"We have Ian Jones and Sean Lynch in charge of the reserves who have prepared well for the new campaign with friendlies against City Bar and Hoole."

Blacon Youth Club have an open date, but they are scheduled to start their Division One campaign on Wednesday night in a home derby clash against Upton AA.

Chester Nomads start their season tonight with a trip to Helsby in Division Two, while St Werburghs travel to Manor Athletic in Division Three.

Upton AA reserves get their campaign underway at home to Mersey Royal tonight, while tomorrow will see Blacon Youth Club reserves entertain Southport Trinity reserves, and Christleton reserves make the short journey to Ellesmere Port reserves.

WEEKEND FIXTURES

TONIGHT - Division One: Castrol Social v Christleton.
Division Two: Helsby v Chester Nomads.
Division Three: Manor Athletic v St Werburghs; Upton AA reserves v Mersey Royal.

SATURDAY - Division One: Maghull v Upton AA.
Division Three: Blacon Youth Club reserves v Southport Trinity reserves; Ellesmere Port reserves v Christleton reserves.