Beavers wary of key injuries (From Surrey Comet)

Beavers wary of key injuries

11:20am Thursday 9th September 2010 in

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Hampton & Richmond Borough boss Alan Devonshire has warned injuries to key men are likely to derail his side’s good start to the season.

The Beavers beat Lewes 2-1 - thanks to a late James Simmonds winner - at the weekend, but watched defender Craig Tanner limp off with a hamstring injury that will see him sidelined for at least a fortnight.

Devonshire’s men have lost only one of their opening seven games and sit ninth in the Blue Square South table in stark contrast to last year’s season of struggle.

The run has breathed new confidence in to a young squad pieced together on a shoestring in the wake of last term’s stringent budget cuts.

But the Station Road chief, who welcome’s back Orlando Jeffrey from injury this weekend, reckons fans need to keep a tight reign on expectations.

“Losing Craig is a blow. He is a good player and has been playing well for us,” he said.

“If we lose any players it is going to hurt us because we’ve got such a small squad, but OJ is back so that is a boost.

“Confidence is up, which is good because there are a lot of players here who haven’t played at this level before.

“It has been a good start - and could have been even better - but we’ve got to get to the safety mark as quickly as we can and see what happens after that.”

Hampton host pre-season title favourites Havant & Waterlooville - 4-1 winners over Thurrock at the weekend - on Saturday looking to stretch their four match unbeaten run.

And Devonshire admits his side maybe facing the mis-firing Hawks at the wrong time.

“They’re favourites to win the league and have had a slow start because they have had problems getting their two forwards fit,” he added.

“They seem to be right on song now after weekend. I wish we could have played them a couple of weeks ago, but we have just got to get on with it.”

Hampton’s next three games: Sept 11 Havant & Waterlooville (h), 18 Bishops Stortford (a), Oct 2 Dover Athletic (h).