Presteigne St Andrews’ pre-season matches on Wednesday 4 August were marred by a serious injury to first-team striker Callum Matthews.
Paramedics were called to Llanandras Park after Callum sustained what – in the view of the medical experts – appeared to be a fracture of his forearm, although this is yet to be formally confirmed.
Everyone at the club sends best wishes to Callum for as speedy a recovery as possible although it appears inevitable he will face a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
“The early signs according to the paramedics are that Callum could be out for six to eight weeks, and that is if he doesn’t need to have it pinned,” said first-team manager Barry Williams.
“We are all hoping it is not as serious as was first feared but hopefully we should know more in the morning,” he added.
After the 25-minute delay while Callum was being treated, the result of the game was largely incidental but – for the record – Presteigne St Andrews went down 2-1 against a decent Ewyas Harold side.
Tom Watkins scored the Presteigne goal with a fine effort when he chipped the visiting keeper from the edge of the penalty area.
Barry said there were plenty of positives to take from their performance against the Herefordshire Premier League club.
“We created three really good chances in the second half and played much better than we did on Saturday,” he said.
“On top of this we gifted Ewyas Harold their second goal when Trevor Gummer was sold well short on a back pass and they took full advantage.
“But the game was completely overshadowed by the injury so we will now have to regroup and go again on Saturday when we will take on Lads Club,” he added.
Meanwhile the Reserves were 2-0 winners at Dore Valley in their latest pre-season match that was played at Kingstone.
Manager Andy Crowe said his side had effectively got the job done in the first quarter of an hour.
“Tom Gibbs put us in front after about 10 minutes and then Steve Marsh doubled the lead on 15,” he said.
“We played really well in the first half and the early stages of the second and could easily have scored a lot more goals.
“Yes, they had a couple of one-on-one chances of their own, but overall we were very good value for the win,” he added.
Both the first team and Reserves will take on Lads Club teams at Llanandras Park on Saturday 7 August when the first-team match will kick off at 2.00pm and the Reserves’ match at 5.00pm, or as soon as the changing rooms are vacated following the first match.