CHRISTCHURCH boss Ollie Cherrett has targeted the Sydenhams Wessex One title next season and insists he does not need a budget to take top spot.

Cherrett took the Hurn Bridge hotseat in September following the sacking of Adie Arnold and immediately set his sights on the top two.

Under Cherrett and right-hand man Chris Hart, Priory took 49 points from 29 matches and finished sixth.

But despite falling just short of a sustained challenge, the ex-Merley manager still saw enough to stand by his current crop.

Cherrett told the Daily Echo: “The players worked hard and did everything we asked of them.

“We are going to look to add a couple of players. We need to freshen it up a little bit but on the whole, I think we have the players here to achieve our objective.

“Maybe it was a bit ambitious to go after it at the first attempt from where we were. When we consider that, Chris and I are rightly proud of what has been achieved and I think the club should be as well.

“With one or two faces and a good pre-season, I expect us to be up there challenging and our goal is to win the league, that’s for sure.

“The big thing for us is our facilities. When players meet us at the ground, it sells the club to them straight away and things are so professional behind the scenes.

“We haven’t got a budget and never will have but there are players who don’t get paid who are quite capable.

“The best single players will not get you out of this league, it is about being the best team and it is down to us as a management team to pull that together.

“Did Portland have the best individuals last season? Possibly not. Were they the best team? By far, and that was why they won the league.

“That’s the secret and if we can stick together, get in players who want to play for Christchurch and are proud to wear the shirt, we can get back to where we belong.”

But while Cherrett was bullish over his team’s chances, he warned there would be no favours arriving from elsewhere.

“Christchurch is known as a Wessex Premier club so there is pressure on us as a management team, and on the players, to get back there,” he added.

“While having nice facilities is a good thing, other teams also like playing on our pitch. They will raise their game and how we combat that will have a massive influence on how things pan out.

“Shaftesbury are coming up and will be strong, as will the teams coming down. It is not going to be easy and nobody is going to say ‘you’re Christchurch, you deserve to win games’ – it is up to us to prove that.

“A good start is vital and hopefully, momentum can take us from there.

“The hard work has already started in terms of talking to our players and over the next couple of weeks, we will look at which players to bring in.”