Bears Coach Looking Forward To Cup Draw Tonight

Last updated : 04 December 2014 By Coventry Bears

Coventry Bears coach Tom Tsang is looking forward to his club taking its inaugural journey in the League One Cup.

The draw for the first round of the new competition is also being held in Coventry on Friday December 5, shining the spotlight on rugby league in the West Midlands.

Tsang's team is also shaping up well for their first season as a semi-professional outfit.

"We’ve just completed week two of our pre-season training and it’s going really well," he said.

"There are 25 contracted players here and about 15 still on trial. All of them are of a good standard.

"With us being the new guys on the block and having the Cup draw in Coventry it gives us an opportunity to let others know what we have been up to and how we are preparing for 2015."

The 14 League One clubs are participating in the competition, and are joined by Kingstone Press Cider National Conference League teams West Hull and East Leeds. 

Eight ties will be played over the weekend of February 28 to March 1 in 2015.

Tsang is relishing the rivalries which the cup will throw up.

"The club has a bit of history with Hemel Stags and I suppose Oxford is our nearest team so a home tie against either of those two would be nice," he added.

"The team are heading to a training camp in Spain on February 5 for four days to fine tune a few things. We’ll be playing a couple of friendlies when we’re back to get us ready for our League 1 Cup fixture.

"People in Coventry love their sport so they’ll be getting behind us. We’ll be working hard on and off the field to make the Bears a success in Rugby League over the next few years. This is the start of something big."

The draw for the first round of the 2015 League 1 Cup will be broadcast live on BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire on Friday December 5 between 6.45pm and 7.00pm.