FORMER Saltash United manager Matt Cusack believes the Ashes can go on and win the Peninsula League Premier West title this coming season – but he believes the scrap for silverware will be even more intense in 2020-21.

Saltash looked in with a very good chance of claiming the league crown last term until the campaign was cut short by the coronavirus epidemic.

They have kept their squad together, with the exception of top scorer Ryan Richards’ departure to Western League Premier Division side Plymouth Parkway, but they have added two former Parkway players to their ranks – in striker Mike Smith and midfielder Fletcher Williams.

‘I hope Saltash can go on and finish the job next year,’ Cusack told the Cornish Times.

‘I would like to think that, with that team, there is a lot of unfinished business there, and I would expect them to go on and dominate domestically now.

‘Ryan has come with me to Plymouth Parkway, so that breaks up that partnership with Sam Hughes, but at the same time, they have recruited, and people will want to play for Saltash, and with the squad already there, I expect them to do really, really well, and I will be rooting for them for sure.

‘But I believe the league will be harder next year at the top.

‘Helston will strengthen, and Mousehole seemed to get their house in order last year after a slow start, and I think Jake (Ash) has largely got the team that he wants there now.

‘As long as he can keep those players together, I expect them to really be in the mix.

‘Bodmin have worked really, really hard behind the scenes, and they have appointed Gary Jeffery as head coach, and he is a very good coach, and will give them a playing philosophy, and they have been advertising for a performance analyst, to expand the resources they have got within the club, and Gilbey (manager Darren Gilbert) has always been quite good at recruiting players as well.

‘So I really do feel it will be harder to win the league this coming season for whoever comes out on top, because the top teams have strengthened, and whereas last year it looked like a two or three-horse race, I think there will be a few more horses next season.’