CAMELFORD Football Club manager, Reg Hambly, admits that it’s been a ‘disappointing season so far’ as they look to climb away from the lower echelons of the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League Premier Division.

Before Tuesday’s Boxing Day clash at Bodmin Town, the Camels had picked up just 15 points from their first 18 games with four wins and three draws to sit 18th in the 20-team division, four points above Callington Town.

Four of those points had come against the top two as they beat runaway league leaders Plymouth Parkway 1-0 and earned an excellent 1-1 draw with Plymouth Argyle Reserves, but Hambly admits that a number of factors have cost them.

He said: “It’s been a very disappointing first half to the season, especially after last year when we finished 14th.

“We were looking to push on but it hasn’t quite gone to plan.

“We’ve had two players go to university, Mark Gusterson retired and there’s also been problems with injuries and player availability.

“Adam Sleep and Martin Haynes, who have been our main centre-back partnership for years, have both currently got or had got long-term collarbone injuries while Harry Hambly and our midfield dynamo Andy Boxall are both out in Australia at the moment until the end of January and the beginning of March so it’s been a struggle. But we know the talent is there, when we had a full side out we beat Parkway and Argyle, but it’s just not happened enough.

“I can’t fault the lads who’ve stepped in, they’ve all got good technical ability but it’s a big ask to be thrown in the deep end playing with seven or eight 18-year-olds.”

Hambly believes that the lack of a settled defence, which has seen them concede 54 league goals, has been their biggest issue, but praised the players for sticking to their footballing philosophy.

He said: “We’ve competed in nearly every game we’ve played but having to chop and change our back four every week has cost us.

“We had the same back four for three games when we picked up seven points against Exmouth, Argyle Reserves and Cullompton and it makes a massive difference.

“However, there have been some poor defensive mistakes and we’ve leaked plenty of goals, but it’s difficult when people don’t play together all the time. “These days, football doesn’t always come first for a lot of people and it makes it hard, but it’s not just us who have that. A lot of clubs are in the same boat.

“Saying that, I’ve been really pleased with the way we play good football. I feel like we’re a really attractive team to watch but sometimes it’s been to our cost. On occasions we should have probably shut up shop and put nine men behind the ball and take a point but we like to go and take on teams, especially at Trefrew Park, where we have a nice flat pitch.

“But we know that if we don’t get a settled defence then it’s going to cost us so I’m hoping that in the second-half of the season that’ll improve and we can start to climb away from danger.”

The cup competitions have, on the whole, been kind to the Camels this term.

They beat league rivals Helston Athletic in the first qualifying round of the FA Vase before losing 3-2 at reigning Peninsula League Premier Division champions Tavistock in the next round.

They were dumped out of the Walter C Parson Funeral Directors League Cup by Division One (West) side Mousehole despite dominating the game for long spells, but have reached the third-round of the RGB Cornwall Senior Cup where they’ll entertain St Austell on Saturday, January 6.

Hambly admits that the cup competitions provide welcome relief from the pressures of the league.

He said: “We’ve done pretty well in the cups so far this year. In a way the pressure is off and it’s a nice distraction for the players.

Every league game at the moment is a pressure game for us but we’ll look forward to it even though it couldn’t have been much harder for us, but we’ll hopefully have one or two players back and we’ll try to get through.

“If we can get past St Austell then a favourable home draw would be great and then before you know it we could be in a semi-final.”

However, it is abundantly clear that retaining their Premier Division status is at the forefront of his mind.

He said: “At this stage we’d probably take anything above the bottom two but we have a lot of home games to come against the teams down with us. If we can get a couple of injured players back and slightly better availability then I’m sure we can push on.”

Camelford are next in action on Saturday (3pm) when they entertain Newquay at Trefrew Park.