Ottery St Mary’s pre-season was hit by a bad injury last weekend when Development side player Chris Williams suffered a nasty injury in the game at Beer Albion.

Williams, who has returned to the game after a couple of seasons away from football, was hurt in the 60th minute and was left stricken on the Furzebrake pitch until an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital, leaving the match referee with no alternative than to abandon the game.

Ottery first team boss Dave Fairweather said: "The support and assistance we got from Beer was second to none.

"They were terrific and we are very grateful to them for how they dealt with what was a difficult situation. We are all gutted for Chris as he has looked good in pre-season and, in the game at Beer, he was impressive. Now we can only hope that he makes a swift and full recovery. Our thoughts as a club are with him right now."

Fairweather continues to seek a number of new players to complement the Ottery senior side. Fairweather saw his team beaten 3-1 at Manstone Lane, Sidmouth last Saturday, but he saw enough across the 90 minutes of action to leave him confident in the way the pre-season is unfolding.

He says: "Against a good Sidmouth Town XI we gave as good as we got for long periods and, hand on heart, the goals we conceded were all somewhat bizarre. For me, the big plus was that I saw some of our training ground work shine through in real match time, and that is so pleasing for a coach. It tells me that what we are working on is being taken in by the players."

The Ottery boss is keen to add to his squad and says: "We really do need another striker and two wide players and my search goes on.

"To date it has been a frustrating search due to an apparent lack of desire of players to commit. But then I am told that is a similar concern for a lot of managers in my situation."

He continued: "We are getting there in terms of our preparations and I am so looking forward to the real action getting under way with the visit of Totnes and Dartington in two weeks' time (Ottery launch their Devon League life at home to the South Devon side on Saturday, August 17)."

Ottery are back in action tomorrow (Saturday) with a double-header away at Bampton with the Development side kicking off at 1pm and the Ottery senior side at 3pm.

Next Saturday (August 10), the Otters host the Invitational Cup when they meet Topsham Town at Washbrook Meadow (look out for a kick-off time at www.sidmouthherald.co.uk)

? Meanwhile the Ottery ladies are well into their pre-season and the Otterettes enjoyed a 'team bonding day' last weekend.

The club's Under-18s are also back in their pre-season and team boss Craig Allen is, like Fairweather with the senior side, keen to recruit one or two new players.

Anyone interested in joining any Ottery side can find all the contact details on the club's Facebook page.