NEWPORT County captain Gary Lloyd will miss the start of the Nationwide South season.
The skipper returned from holiday at the end of last week but has missed a large chunk of pre-season training and is at least two weeks behind the rest of the squad in terms of fitness.
But the blow will be softened by the form of Academy graduate Neil Passmore, who is now certain to face Havant and Waterlooville in the right-back berth.
The youngster has been a revelation in County's friendlies and if he continues to impress in the opening two or three fixtures of County's campaign, then 32-year-old Wales semi-pro cap Lloyd's future at Spytty Park could be in doubt.
He has been linked with a move back to Llanelli in a player-manager role, but that would take international clearance and would now seem unlikely with the Welsh Premier League set to kick-off on Saturday.
At County, with Scott Morgan returning to fitness alongside Darren Jones and Lee Phillips being handed the left-back role in pre-season, boss Peter Nicholas may not be too concerned about Lloyd's absence, especially as Andrew Thomas is almost 100 per cent and has just signed pro-contract forms as well.
New signing Scott Young, who can also play at the back, is now expected to be handed the captain's armband for the opener but that will not be formally announced until tomorrow.
What would be missed is the vicious delivery that Lloyd possesses from set pieces, which was arguably County's biggest goal-threat last season, with the majority of goals originating from Lloyd's left boot.
But even this could be offset by the signing of Jason Bowen, who can also manoeuvre a dead-ball with potent accuracy.
County were in action last Friday against Tiverton in their final warm-up game and the starting line-up could be the one that Nicholas will go for on Saturday, but the County boss is keeping his cards close to his chest, only describing the match as a "very good run out".
Nicholas said: "We looked good, especially in the first half when we created a lot of chances. There is still work to be done but we will be ready for Saturday."
As well as Andrew Thomas committing himself to County, ending speculation that he could be on his way, fellow Academy graduate Sam O'Sullivan has also signed pro forms.
The 18-year-old made an impact in the second half of last season and looks to have beefed up over the summer, making him a valuable member of this season's squad as back up to the main strike pairing of Jamie Moralee and Carl Wilson-Denis.
This week Nicholas added an extra training session on Monday night and this week has worked on fine details and set-plays but whether or not Lloyd will prove such a key figure remains to be seen.
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