Ottery St Mary manager Dave Fairweather is very content with how things have gone at Washbrook Meadow over the pre-season.

The Otters continued their on-pitch preparations with a 3-0 midweek win over Upottery Reserves.

Matt Daly, Adam Harris and birthday-boy Corey Ringer, scored the Ottery goals.

Fairweather said: “It was a good workout for the lads and they [Upottery] made us work hard which is what you want from a pre-season game.”

There was another clean sheet for Otters glovesman Hugh Court of whom the Ottery boss said: “We are looking for a big season from Hugh who was plagued by injury for much of last season.

“He has looked good and solid in the pre-season and it’s always good for the teams confidence to have a safe pair of hands between the posts!”

Against Upottery goal scoring 51-year-old Matt Daly was once again a dominant figure. Fairweather said: “He [Daly} is a footballing enigma. Its amazing to see opposition reaction when we are warming up and you see opponents looking towards Matt and thinking – really!?

“Then, within minutes of kick-off he’s at his tenacious best winning everything be it on the ground or in the air.

“He is an inspiration and is certainly a perfect role model for our younger players.”

With regards to ‘new players to look out for’ this season, the Ottery boss says: “Corey [Ringer] has been out leading scorer so far in pre-season. I am hoping for great things from him this season. He still has work to do fitness wise, but he is coming back into the game after a long-term injury so it will take time, but he has show sufficient in the warm-up games to suggest that he is going to score a lot of goals for us this season.”

The Macron League has now formally agreed to adopt the sin-bin scheme for the coming season, so does the Ottery boss have a view on the advent of such a thing?

He says: “For me the jury is out. There’s no doubt that dissent needs to be curbed in the game, but I am not so sure a short sharp slap - ie a 10 minute cooling down in the sin bin - is really the answer.

“I do think a financial penalty is better and, as I understand it, a sin-binning will not involve money.

“However, I am all for trying new things, if they improve the game and will happily support this latest idea. As to wether it provides the answer the authorities are looking for, well, that remains to be seen.”

The Otters begin their new Macron League Division Three season with a Washbrook Meadow meeting with Tipton St John on Wednesday, August 30 (6.30pm).

They will play their final warm-up game next Thursday (August 24) when they host Whipton and Pinhoe (7pm) after which the Otters will train on the final Saturday of the month before getting down to the real buisness of banking league points the following midweek.