CAMELFORD welcome Holsworthy to Trefrew Park on Saturday (3pm) as they look to get their SWPL Premier West campaign off to a good start.

While Holsworthy have enjoyed a fine summer by keeping all of last year’s squad plus the arrivals of young striker Blake Shapland and midfielder Jonny Lang from Bideford’s successful under 18s side, things have been notably different at Camelford.

Incomings and outgoings are usually rare, but long-serving boss Reg Hambly has to deal with a large turnover of the squad.

Son and captain Charlie has gone to St Blazey, as has last year’s top-scorer Brooklyn Wilkins and promising midfielder Eli Evans.

Defenders Tom Crowe and Bryn Sturdy have made the short trip over to Bodmin Town and are joined by diminutive midfielder Connor Sturdy, brother of Bryn.

On top of that, attacking left-back Jake Chafer has rejoined Sticker with striker Leo Best making the same move to the Burngullow Park outfit.

On the arrivals front, versatile right-sided player Josh Smith has joined his ex-Altarnun team-mate Sam Wade who has been named as the new club captain, but a season of consolidation is likely.

Other incomings in the last few days have been midfielder Kenan Nicholas from Wadebridge Town Reserves, while hard-working forward Martin Jago has signed on from neighbours St Breward.

Hambly knows it’s not going to be easy, but believes if they can get their best team on the park they will be fine.

Speaking on Monday afternoon, he said: “Availability has been our biggest problem in pre-season. We’ve played six fixtures so far, but all things considering we’ve done okay.

“We conceded five against St Austell and Tavistock which in the circumstances was somewhat expected, but we’ve done well against everybody else, conceding just three with two wins.”

“We’ve lost four or five of last year’s defence, and had Josh Colwill away with young Howie Evans in goal, but we’ve done okay.

“But we’ve also had Sam Watts and Shae Cardiff injured and Andy Boxall has only played a couple of games, so we need to get them fit and available.”

While Hambly has lost eight and centre-half Dan Metherell’s availability is set to be scratchy due to work commitments, he has at least added Smith, Jago and Nicholas to his squad.

But he admits that the league could be challenging at times.

He said: “The league looks pretty strong again, particularly when you see some of the results the teams you’d expect to be up there have had against Western League teams in pre-season. “Also this year with St Dennis pulling out and Sticker strengthening there aren’t going to be any whipping boys, so it’s going to be competitive from top to bottom.”

Camelford have a relentless start August.

Hambly continued: “With eight games in August and just three in September, it means we need to start well. “Although we’re likely to have some missing, we need to hit the ground running as soon as possible against Holsworthy on Saturday, followed by Bodmin on Tuesday.

“Both are fairly local derbies and I’m sure they’ll be well-fought like they usually are.”

Hambly wants to strengthen his squad, and will bide his time to do so.

He said: “We’ll look to see who is sitting on the bench at various clubs and then hopefully entice them with the offer of regular football. “I’m hoping that Sam Watts and Shae Cardiff will be fit again soon, and we need to get them and our better players on the park.

“Last year we were able to bring in some players from the lower leagues and they shone, so I’m hoping it’ll happen again!”