Presteigne St Andrews FC’s management team has been working hard to rearrange friendly matches after a host of unforeseen circumstances threatened to derail their pre-season preparations.
First-team boss Trevor Gummer and his reserve-team counterpart Stuart Skidmore have both had problems in the build up to the season.
“We have had no end of problems – and not through any fault of our own, but we will keep battling on,” said Trevor.
“First of all, the Ludlow Cup for this season was scrapped, so we lost a game there, and then the Reserves’ scheduled friendly at Bucknell was called off as their mower broke down so they were unable to cut the pitch.
“Similarly, our trip to Wellington also went by the wayside as their pitch isn’t ready, while the scheduled double-header against Malvern Rangers was also called off as that club has sadly folded,” he added.
But the dynamic duo has been working hard to come up with replacement fixtures and with some degree of success.
“The Reserves will start things off now as they will head to Tenbury Wells on Wednesday 27 July, while the first team will then host Woofferton next Saturday, 30 July,” explained Trevor.
“I am still looking to sort out a game for the first team on Tuesday, 2 August while the plan is for the Reserves to take on Leintwardine on Thursday, 4 August.
“On Saturday, 6 August, the first team is due to take on Brecon Corries at home, while the Reserves are down to play Clee Hill. [Ed’s note: At the risk of stating the obvious, there is a danger of a fixture clash here unless the Ressies are away, or the kick off times are staggered?]
“The first team will then round off their preparations on Tuesday, 9 August when they will host Ewyas Harold at Llanandras Park,” he added.
Further details regarding kick off times and other arrangements will be published as soon as we have them, but well done to Trev and Stuart for making the best of a bad job and ensuring there will be a meaningful pre-season programme.