LUDLOW FC boss Chris Waldron admits his side will start the new campaign with downsized expectations this weekend after a challenging close season.

Waldron’s troops finished second in the inaugural but prematurely-curtailed Salop Leisure League Premier Division last term.

However, some players have since departed, with the stop-start nature of football over the past 18 months due to the coronavirus pandemic among the contributory factors.

Kieran Dovey, Liam Griffiths and Matt Good are among the players to have left and Waldron admits he’s operating with a leaner squad ahead of Saturday’s opener at home to Prees United.

Describing pre-season as ‘mixed’, Waldron added: “We just haven’t got as strong a squad as last year – a few players have left or packed the game in.

“So we don’t really expect to be up there challenging like we were last season – it’s a case of rebuilding and going again. It’s been a bit of a nightmare but we’re still working at it.

“We are hoping we can still give a good account of ourselves as we still have a good core but all we can do is give our best.

“We’re looking forward to it, getting back to competitive football – hopefully we can have a season where it all goes straightforward, unlike the last two.”

In both of those campaigns – 2019-20 in West Midlands Division Two, before moving to the Salop league in 2020-21 – Ludlow were positioned promisingly before Covid intervened.

“It’s been terribly frustrating as the last couple of years we’ve had a squad capable of challenging for honours in first the West Midlands League, then the Salop Leisure League,” Waldron added.

“I really believe we would have won something those two years – whether that be a cup or the league. We were sat second both times that it was called off.”

Even after last season was curtailed, Ludlow reached the semi-finals of a hastily-created ‘Champions League’ style competition organised by the league.

But, again, fate denied them as they could not field a side for the last-four date and Shrewsbury Juniors progressed by forfeit.

They begin the new season against a Prees side promoted from Division One – and while the opponents are somewhat of an unknown, Waldron is delighted about the return of fans.

He added: “Fans are a big part of football at any level and they help with costs by spending money at the club – and that’s one of the biggest things at this level, the running costs.

“We will be glad to have them back and hopefully we can put on a good performance for them.

“But Prees won their league to get promoted and won a cup too, so we expect them to be decent as you don’t win things if you aren’t.”