JIMMY Fry admits his priority has been with the Redditch United players following Mike Fowler’s sudden departure as Reds boss.
The club recently announced Fowler’s shock exit just over two weeks before the start of the 2026/27 season.
And assistant boss Fry took charge of Redditch for the club’s annual Tom Rankin Memorial Game.
The fixture ended in a 2-2 draw against Loughborough Students at the Valley Stadium.
The club have confirmed Fry will remain in charge of Redditch’s remaining pre-season matches.
And Fry insists the priority remains ensuring the club and its players are ready for the opening game of the season.
Fry said: “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind.
“It’s been really busy, the main thing has been making sure the priority was with the players.
“We wanted to make steps forward and we probably made one or two but the last 15 minutes overshadowed more positives.
“We’re trying to make strides forward. We’re trying to make bigger strides forward with two pre-season games left.
“We need to get players up to speed, we’ve still got loads of work to do individually and collectively.
“It’s just about trying to keep us moving forward. The priority for everybody is the first league game of the season.”
Fry’s side surrendered a two-goal lead at the Valley Stadium. Loughborough scored two late goals to ensure the game ended all square.
And Fry admits the Reds must find a way to stay in control of games ahead of the club’s league opener next month.
Fry added: “We’ve been banging on about intensity all pre-season and we were really intense for the first half-hour.
“We keep losing our way which is something that is constantly needing work.
“I wanted more control in the second half because we lost control towards the back end of the first half.
“We got that overall but the last 15 minutes is something we’re not happy about one little bit.
“We have to be able to maintain the level of performance which we weren’t able to do.”
Redditch continue their pre-season schedule against Coventry United on Monday, July 27 with kick-off at 7.45pm at the Valley Stadium.
