Ottery St Mary boss Mike Dawe is glad his side have no more friendlies before their Fresha League opener on Monday week (August 24) as he is struggling with availability and injuries to such a degree that he is still not sure what sort of a team he’ll be able to field for that match against Alphington 3rds at Washbrook Meadow.

The Otters chief says: “Compared to a year ago, this pre-season has been a nightmare. We are struggling with availability and that is going to impact on our early season. It is a worry and the league action has almost come too soon. I honestly can’t see us finding things settling down until six or seven weeks into the campaign. That’s when we’ll see the real Ottery team in action. These things are sent to try us, but we’ll keep our spirits up and certainly look to make as good a start as possible this season.”

One player who left the club in the summer is teenager Connor Swingler. He made the switch to Sidmouth Town, but has signed Fresha League forms for Dawe and the Ottery boss is hoping he can help his old team out on Monday week.

Dawe is also keen to hear about how the two new faces at this week’s training session who are set to get run outs with the Ottery Reserves in Saturday’s friendly at Tedburn St Mary, get on.

He says: “It’s very encouraging that we are seeing new faces at training and hopefully both lads will impress in the Reserves at Tedburn, which would really help our availability situation.”