Kingston City coach Nick Tolios has recruited heavily from near and far, youth and experience, in a bid to assemble a squad which can challenge for promotion from NPL 2 this year.

At the end of last season, Tolios and assistant Billy Theodoropoulos were faced with the task of finding new squad members following an exodus of nine players from the Grange, seven of whom were in the starting 11.

“The majority of those we lost were most of our experienced players (including main marksman Sean McIlroy),” Tolios told Neos Kosmos. “So Billy and I sat down at the end of last year and identified what we needed. And we went down the path of getting experienced young players who have played at the NPL level.

“The guys we’ve brought in are 21 to 22-year-olds except for my two visa spots – 26- year-old keeper, Frenchman Julien Chaumet and 31-year- old Czech midfielder Zdenek Koukal. Apart from those two and George Stavridis, Ryan Love and Nick Stamatiou, everyone else is 23 to 24 – down to 17 years old.”

Last season the club made a promising start to its campaign but it ended in a disappointing fade-out when it lost seven of its last 10 games, to finish sixth, due mainly to injuries and players going overseas. Kingston scored plenty of goals along the way but by the coach’s admission, “also conceded a lot of goals”.

“Our biggest aim has been to strengthen our defence as well as replacing Sean McIlroy,” he said.

As well as signing keeper Chaumet from French Division 4 side AS Moulins, Kingston has signed central defenders Ryan Love from NPL champion Bentleigh Greens and Springvale White Eagles skipper, Simo Milanovic.

Tolios believes that Love, who has won NPL championships in both Brisbane and Melbourne, “brings a winning mentality to the squad.”

He also believes the Czech midfielder Koukal will bring invaluable experience.

“Having someone like Koukal, who’s played overseas (representing the Czech Republic at youth level), played in Europe – you can’t buy the kind of experience that he brings. He’s fantastic with the younger guys. He shows by the way he goes about his football, he’s hard at the ball, work rate second to none. And that flows on to the guys. Seeing someone who’s had success in Europe and has what it takes to play at that level – it’s had an impact on all the squad to be honest. His work rate is phenomenal.”

Tolios also reckons that Libyan-born midfielder Muad Zwed will bring an X-factor to the squad.

“He’s electric, he’s skilful. At the moment, he’s catching up with his fitness and we’re aiming to get him ready by round 1.”

Tolios is cautiously optimistic about his new squad’s chances of success this year. According to the coach, it has greater depth, less of a gap between the starting 11 and the rest of the squad, and more pace and versatility, especially through the midfield.

“I’m excited because the squad is younger than last year and we can mould it into the way we want to be playing and they are just willing to learn.”

He believes the main contenders for promotion will be Dandenong Thunder, Dandenong City, and Box Hill United. The latter visits Kingston in Rd 1 of the new season on Monday evening, 22 February at the Grange.start to its campaign but it ended in a disappointing fade-out when it lost seven of its last 10 games, to finish sixth, due mainly to injuries and players going overseas.