BISHOPS Castle FC were this week due to start a busy pre-season schedule in defence of their Montgomeryshire Amateur Football League title.

Player-manager Dan Dawson was due to open the friendly programme at Carno on Tuesday and preparations continue at Knighton next Tuesday (ko 7pm).

All the friendlies will be played away from home because of extensive renovation work being carried out at the club’s Stank Lane home.

Dawson’s men visit Montgomery on Saturday, July 28 (ko 2pm) and take on Churchstoke in the Bishops Castle Cup a day later (ko 2pm) before trips to Berriew on Tuesday, July 31 (ko 7.30pm), Llanfair on Tuesday, August 7 (ko 7pm) and Pontypridd-based Graig FC on Saturday, August 11 (ko 2pm).

The club will be completing the final year of a three-year spell during which they can rise no higher than their current ‘recreational football’ level – under the terms of a cross-border agreement with the Welsh FA – and hope to be promoted if they retain their title.