FIVE stars of Redditch Borough’s bid for back-to-back promotions have stayed on for another crack at glory in this season’s Midland League Division Two.

Captain Jamie Hatfield, fans’ favourite Billy Garvey, stalwart Craig Malins, prolific hitman Steve Joynes and frontrunner Rob Bruce have all put pen to paper in the past week.

The quintet is joined by rookie pair Alex Birch and Jack Roome who make the transition to men’s football from the Mettis Sports & Social Club (MSS) outfit’s burgeoning youth set-up.

Boss Julian Workman had already gained verbal assurances from 13 players going into the 2017-18 campaign and remains confident of rubber stamping the rest of his retained list before running the rule over a smattering of trialists in the coming weeks.

“After such a successful campaign and rapid progress by so many of the lads, it is understandable that clubs will be looking at our players,” said Workman.

“You always want to hold on to as many as you can and while it is great that so many agreed to stay on so early, it is also a relief to get the paperwork signed because you never know when clubs with decent financial resources are going to come calling at this time of year.”

Meanwhile, there have been tweaks to some of the junior schedules due to growing demand.

Wildcats sessions, the free service for under-11 girls put on by Borough as a selected partner in the national Football Association initiative, take place on Wednesdays from 6.15pm to 7.15pm from July 19.

Borough’s Little Footy Stars for girls and boys aged between three and six has moved to Wednesdays from 5pm to 6pm, again from July 19.

An influx of interest has seen the boys and girls split for player development training on Thursdays. U7 and U8 boys train from 5-6pm with girls from U7 to U12s gathering from 6.15pm to 7.15pm. These changes come in from July 20.

For more information on any of the youth sessions, email Alex Motherwell at rbfc.am@gmail.com