HAMWORTHY United boss Dan Cann shared how his charges are “looking forward to the opportunity” of playing home games at Weymouth’s Bob Lucas Stadium.

After the main stand at their County Ground home was condemned towards the end of last season, Hammers have had to make alternative arrangements to stage Southern League fixtures as they await the construction of a replacement.

Hammers staged their play-off semi-final last term at Dorchester Town, but were unable to find a suitable deal to return to the Avenue for the start of the new campaign.

Instead, they will share with the Terras, Hammers paying a small fee for each game.

Hamworthy hope to return to the County Ground in mid-September, dependent on the construction of the new stand being completed on time.

Whilst the Southern League granted Hammers a further grace period to remain in the eighth tier, there was the slim possibility the Poole-based club would have to drop down to the Dorset Premier League.

Despite the uncertainty, Cann has managed to retain the core of his side ahead of Hamworthy’s second season in the Southern League.

He explained to the Daily Echo: “We tied a few of the lads down last season, got them onto longer-term deals, but to be honest, all the lads have bought in.

“Everyone who's here wanted to stay.

“Obviously a couple have left, so it is what it is, it's football, it happens. But a couple have gone and I can strongly say that the ones that have come in, making us even stronger.

“But, yeah, in the majority, the lads were committed, they wanted to stay, they're also looking forward to the opportunity of playing a few games at Weymouth as well, to be honest.

“It's a fantastic stadium and Weymouth have been a massive help for us doing that and offering that to us as well.

“It's a good opportunity for us to go and play a few games there as well.”

Highlighting further positives, Cann believes the opportunity to regularly play on grass will help Hammers on their travels.

At the County Ground, Hammers train and play on 4G, with their landlords, the Dorset County FA, recently relaying the pitch.

“But also it gives us an opportunity as well to get a bit of consistency of playing on grass because last season away from home, we obviously weren't as strong as we were at home, we were still good.

“But for us to get a bit of consistency on grass I think will help us in the long run as well. So you’ve got to take the positives.”