By Andrew Gidley

Peter Nott has admitted his first pre-season at Belmont has been one of the hardest ever.

The Whitstable boss (pictured) is still working on adding to his squad, ahead of the Ryman League Division 1 South season on Saturday week but admitted: "I have never experienced such an interrupted build-up, with so many injuries. It’s been frustrating."

Three more players picked up knocks in Saturday’s 1-1 friendly draw against Grays Athletic.

Peter Hawkins (ankle), James Peacock (hip) and Scott Heard (knee) are the latest casualties, and all would have missed Tuesday night’s postponed game against Horsham, now managed by former Faversham boss Justin Luchford.

The Sussex club requested the game be called off as several of their squad, including Luchford and assistant Hugo Langton, are London-based, and were concerned about their safety, following riots in the capital the night before.

Nott said: "I can understand the reasons but tried to persuade Justin to send down a team of local players but he couldn’t do it. It was frustrating because I wanted to have a look at a couple of players."

Nott hopes that the injured trio will respond to treatment from physio David Chapman-Jones at training tonight (Thursday), and be available for the final pre-season game of the season, at home to Margate on Saturday.

Chapman-Jones will also monitor the fitness of injured new signings, striker Keelan Mooney (shin splints) and Gary Mickleborough, who is recovering from an operation on a damaged metatarsal.