Boss Shaun Gale hoping injured Gosport Borough trio should be fit for start of Southern League season

Two of his summer signings - striker Harvey Bradbury and midfielder Andreas Robinson - are currently sidelined.

Bradbury has been out for a fortnight since suffering a head injury in a friendly against Lymington, while Robinson has only played once in pre-season due to a bout of tendonitis.

In addition, ex-Hawks attacker Bradley Tarbuck suffered a hairline ankle fracture during last week’s friendly with Bognor.

Gale hasn’t ruled any of them out of lining up against Merthyr when the curtain is lifted on a new league season on August 6.

He only has two friendlies left to work on fitness and tactics - Tuesday’s trip to AFC Portchester for the second Ray Stainton & Steve Woods Memorial Cup tie in eight days and this coming Saturday’s even shorter trip to Fareham Town (2pm).

‘At this stage, ideally you want to be getting a few 90 minutes into the players,’ said Gale.

‘A couple had 90 against Portchester last week.

‘We’ll be taking the strongest squad we’ve got (to Portchester) - we’ve got some out but we’ve still got Danny Hollands, Matt Briggs, Rory Williams, Harry Kavanagh, Harvey Rew, Matt Patterson, Abdulai Baggie.

‘The lads have worked hard in pre-season - everyone’s bought into what we’re trying to do. It’s just unfortunate we’ve had a couple of mishaps, but it is what it is.’