LONG-SERVING Camelford manager, Reg Hambly (pictured right), hopes his side can make it four top-half finishes in eights seasons in the Premier Division of the 2018/19 Carlsberg South West Peninsula Football League.

The Camels pulled off a remarkable late run of form in 2017/18 — winning 10 of their final 15 games, which were played in less than a month, to end with 46 points from their 38 games after picking up just 16 from their first 23 — although there were mitigating circumstances, to end up tenth.

The highlight of that run was winning four games in a week including two in two days against Callington Town and Witheridge.

Their final away game saw them earn a 2-1 victory at Ivybridge Town before they concluded their campaign with a 4-2 victory over Torpoint Athletic.

Reflecting on another season at Step Six, Hambly always had confidence they’d turn it around.

He said: “We had a really poor start mainly due to availability and injuries early on.

“With us only playing two or three times throughout the winter due to the weather, that made it really tough as well, but when we have a full side out we can give everyone a game.

“Towards the end of the season when we played two or three games a week we gelled and the improved availability helped and we ended up finishing tenth.

“We were missing key players through injury and unavailability for large parts of the season, so to finish where we did was great.”

With their first league fixture at home to Sticker on Tuesday, August 7 fast approaching, Hambly has had his players back since July 2 as they prepare for their first pre-season friendly on Monday night (July 16) at Penryn Athletic.

He said: “At the moment we’ve retained all of our squad that finished last season apart from maybe our captain Dan Balsdon, who says he’s retiring, although we’re working on him to get him to play, and Tom Cowling isn’t back until mid-September from travelling.

“We know that with cricket and work early on it’ll be an issue, but we hope that the availability will be a lot better.

“It’s supposedly going to be the last year of the Premier Division and the aim is for another top-half finish, which would be our fourth in eight seasons.”

Although many of the Camels’ squad have jobs which require evening work, which affects preparations, Hambly is confident that his side will be ready.

He said: “Pre-season is difficult for us as a lot of players work in the leisure business including a lifeguard and people who do bar work.

“However we work hard for two or three weeks to get the basic fitness back and then we play friendlies twice a week until we start.

“This enables us to get our match fitness back and look at different players and formations at the same time.”

All six of their pre-season friendlies are against teams from the league lower, starting with Penryn on Monday before they take on Holsworthy, St Dennis, Bude and St Blazey before they travel to Liskeard Athletic on Friday, August 3.

Hambly explained: “Sorting friendlies is very difficult. We don’t want to play against teams in our own league and it’s difficult to sort ones from higher leagues as they’re so far away.

“But the Division One (West) teams have good grounds and facilities and will provide us with a really good test.”

The North Cornwall club could meet the Division One (Westwill also compete in the Buildbase FA Vase, RGB Cornwall Senior Cup and Walter C Parson Funeral Directors League Cup and Hambly expects his side to go well.

He said: “The cup competitions are always great for the club, especially the FA Vase and with a full side out we’re always confident of having a good run in one of them.”

Camelford have found out their opponents for each.

In the FA Vase they’ve been given a bye into the second qualifying round where they’ll take on local rivals Bodmin Town on Saturday, September 15, while in the League Cup they’ve again been given a bye into the second-round where they’ll either travel to Plymstock United or Ivybridge Town on a date yet to be decided. The draw for the Senior Cup has yet to be made.

One man Hambly will hope can fire in the goals is young striker Keegan Lloyd, who scored some crucial goals for the Camels in the run-in following his move from Duchy League football.

Hambly said: “I saw Keegan playing for Gerrans/Mawes in the Duchy Premier League and I really liked what I saw and spoke to him and it’s worked out well.

“The most frustrating thing during my time as a manager has been seeing very talented players who could play at a much higher level, but for some reason don’t, as they’re happy playing at a lower level.

“It’s really frustrating as that’s the type of player that we at Camelford, as one of the smaller clubs in the division, are on the lookout for.”

If Camelford finish tenth or better again, Hambly’s 28th season in charge would have been another outstanding success.