Williams is looking on the positive side of life despite a full treatment room at Colston Avenue

Williams takes his charges to Wingate & Finchley on Saturday for the curtain raiser missing five names from the team sheet.

However, the boss sees it more as an opportunity for the fringe players than a negative impact on the team.

Williams will be without Bruce Hogg (calf), Sean O’Toole (ankle), Sonny Ayres (knee), Kingsley Aikhionbare (hamstring) and Brendan Murphy-McVey (calf).

He said: “None of them will be out for very long, but it is a shame at the start of the season.

“What it does do though, is give some of the reserve players a chance to play and I have every confidence they will step up to the plate.”

He added: “I have been pleased with the pre-season performances, but what I liked most of all is that we have a real family atmosphere around the place already, we have a real togetherness.

“There’s a blend of new and old players, and they have all gelled so well on and off the pitch. That’s what I want and that is what will see us through the long season ahead.”

After the close scrape with relegation last time round, Williams has made reaching 42 points his first target for the season – and thereafter, what will be, will be.

“After last year, we’ll take this season one stage at a time,” he said.

“But the fact we are even in this league is testimony to how strong we are as a group and as a club.

“When we were rock bottom, and everyone had written us off, it would have been easy for the board to cut their losses, cut the budget and settle for relegation.

“But instead they stood by us, and I so pleased for them, the team and the fans that all that hard work paid off.”

Out: Sean O'Toole could miss up to two weeks with an ankle injury    SP78211