Wealdstone boss Gordon Bartlett hopes to sign former loanee Connor Calcutt ahead of the new National League South season which starts this weekend, joking he would prefer the campaign to begin a month later.

It has been a nightmare pre-season for the Stones boss who has seen new signing Oliver Duffy decide to go travelling, Carl Martin get a new job with Watford and now goalkeeper Jonathan North has picked up an injury, adding to an already packed treatment room.

However, in a rare bit of good news for the beleaguered Bartlett, forward Calcutt could return to the Vale on a permanent basis after a short loan stint last season.

He scored twice in the 6-0 Middlesex Senior Cup victory over Hanpton & Richmond Borough before injury cut his stay short.

The former Stevenage striker featured in Saturday’s 3-1 win over a Queens Park Rangers XI and speaking to the Harrow Times, Bartlett confirmed an offer had been made to the 21-year-old forward.

“We have made him and he trained with us on Tuesday night,” revealed Bartlett. “He is thinking it over and he will hopefully come back with a positive answer sooner rather than later.”

Positivity has been in a short supply during a pre-season Bartlett has described as one of the worst of his career. And with the Stones’ second campaign in the National League South getting underway at Bath City on Saturday, the problems are continuing to mount.

“I would prefer the season to start in September I think,” chuckled Bartlett.

“We had our final friendly on Monday against Slough. I always put in a ‘safety’ friendly with no intention of putting out a full side. This was for the lads who are lagging behind a little bit in terms of fitness,” he explained.

“Six of them have not trained at all for a fortnight due to various unforeseen circumstances and it showed that many of them are undercooked.”

Bradley Hudson-Odoi, Scott Davies, Michael Corcoran, Jefferson Louis, Josh Urqhart and Scott McGleish all featured in the 2-0 defeat at Slough with striker McGleish getting his first start of the summer.

The 41-year-old had been called into action off the bench to replace the injured North between the sticks for the final 15 minutes of the R’s win after the keeper’s knee locked.

But Bartlett is not expecting a repeat at Twerton Park this weekend. He said: “Jonathan will play if we can’t sign anyone before Saturday.

“We have run for about five seasons like this because we had Sean Cronin who was happy to go in if necessary.

“Jon trained for a whole session on Tuesday night and threw himself into it. In time he is going to need an operation to sort this out because you never know when it might happen,” stated Bartlett. “But your number one priority is your next football match.”