HARRY Wheeler is pleased with Billericay Town’s new formation as the eagerly-anticipated National League South campaign gets underway tomorrow.

Billericay will kick-off the new season by welcoming Eastbourne Borough to the Steel Team Stadium.

And Wheeler, who has deployed three central defenders and two wing-backs regularly during pre-season, believes Town’s new shape will cause teams problems as they target promotion to the top tier of non-league football.

“I’d say our preferred formation at this stage involves having three central defenders and two wing-backs,” said Wheeler.

“There are some personnel tweaks that may take place within that, but I think we are where we need to be.

“The new formation has worked for us and we have won games by using it.

“I think this is the shape we want to have and we feel comfortable in this shape.

“It’s worked well pre-season and hopefully we can transfer that across into the new season.”

Upon taking over the club in December 2016, owner Glenn Tamplin set a target of achieving promotion every two seasons.

Billericay are preparing for their second term in the National League South, having won the treble 16 months ago, and Tamplin has stated that he is looking to finish the upcoming campaign as the runaway title winners.

Wheeler is back at the helm for a second spell in charge, having returned in January, and has put his players through a challenging pre-season programme after narrowly missing out on a play-off place on the final day of last term.

Eye-catching summer arrivals such as Ronnie Henry, Matt Rhead and Gavin Gunning have resulted in Billericay being among the favourites with bookmakers to go on and win the title.

And Wheeler has strengthened his options further by signing Louis Ramsay and Samuel Egole following a successful trial period.

Ramsay and Egole came off the bench in Billericay’s final friendly, which came in the form of a 2-1 win over Hornchurch.

And Wheeler felt the clash was ideal for his side.

“We learnt a lot and it was probably the most productive game for us in pre-season,” added Wheeler.

“There were certain things that worked, while others didn’t.

“We changed how we were playing at half-time and it worked much better.

“I think we are much more satisfied with where we are now and we are where we need to be heading into the first game of the season.”