Harrisburg’s head coach Bill Becher is relishing the prospect of taking on the USL’s newest franchise — although he admitted yesterday he knows almost nothing about the Bermuda Hogges.

Becher, who played with the Island’s indoor soccer star David Bascome at the Harrisburg Heat, made sweeping changes to his squad over the winter after enduring a disappointing 2006 season in which they won eight, lost nine and drew three — leaving them stranded in the middle of the Division Two table.

And despite last week’s 1-1 draw with the Wilmington Hammerheads in their first match of this year’s campaign, Becher is certain he now has the resources to challenge for the championship.

“Things had to change after last year — we weren’t at all happy with the way things turned out,” he said.

“So yes I was very busy in the off-season recruiting players and I’m now pretty happy with what I’ve got. We got off to a very slow start against Wilmington in conceding an early goal, but we got the equaliser before the half and played some reasonable stuff after that.

“But with a lot of new players I wasn’t expecting a huge amount from the first game of the season and as time goes by I expect us to get stronger.

“Obviously I don’t know anything about Bermuda having not had a chance to see them in action. It makes it a bit more difficult to prepare, but we just have to make the best of the situation and concentrate on our own preparation and our own game.

“As a team we do try to play football. There are a lot of very physical, direct teams in the league and as Bermuda will see over the summer, there a lot of very big teams out there. We’re a little different. We haven’t got many big players and we like to knock the ball around if we possibly can.

“I’m certainly looking forward to these two games. The Bermuda Hogges are a fantastic addition to the league. If you look at Division One there are two teams from Canada and one from Puerto Rico who definitely add to the quality of competition and I’m sure Bermuda will do the same.”

The vast majority of Harrisburg’s squad is made up of former top American college players who are either seasoned campaigners or just finding their way in the pro ranks.

They have only one genuine foreign player at their disposal in the shape of 25-year-old winger David Schofield from England - a former national schoolboy player.

Meanwhile, having already sized up tonight’s opponents Bermuda Hogges co-owner Paul Scope is cautiously optimistic the Island’s first professional outfit can rise to meet the challenge.

Scope personally flew to Pennsylvania last weekend to witness the Islander’s draw against Wilmington.

And judging by what he observed feels that his team can obtain a favourable result if they commit themselves to coach Kyle Lightbourne’s game plan. “They looked like a very good side and certainly got off to a bad start (against Wilmington) by conceding an early goal. But they settled down and after a half-an-hour began taking control of the game,” Scope said.

“Obviously they are a very ambitious team and so it’s going to be interesting playing against them. But I think we can be competitive at this level and we’ll just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow night (tonight).

“But I’m hopeful we will be able to compete with them and the players are certainly up for the team’s historic first game. And I hope that they will be able to channel their energies into a positive result.

“Obviously I saw a few things that we can work on against Harrisburg, but I’m not going to say what they are at this time because their coach can also read the papers. So I guess all will be revealed tomorrow night.”