Tonbridge have suffered a major injury blow going into the new season - but there’s still plenty of optimism at Longmead.

Noel Leighton is expected to miss the opening two months of the National League South campaign with an ankle injury.

Leighton arrived at Longmead after scoring 41 goals for Three Bridges in Isthmian South East last season.

He’d been training well before going over on his ankle in the warm-up before the opening friendly at Corinthian.

The striker, who previously worked with manager Jay Saunders at Margate, broke down on his return and is facing a period out following a scan.

“We’ve ended up losing Noel, which has been a big blow to our plans,” said Saunders.

“He’s had a scan and he’ll see the specialist over the next couple of days and we’ll find out the extent of it.

“But it’s not looking like a quick fix.

“Before he got injured he was doing well and had fitted in well with the boys.

“He missed a few weeks then trained again and looked good, probably what we were missing last year, but then had a setback.

“We’ll find out more but I would say he’ll be out for a minimum of another two months possibly.”

Trevan Robinson, a summer signing from Leatherhead, looks set to start the season opener at home to Weymouth on Saturday (3pm).

He’s settled in well after moving up from Isthmian League football while Saunders is also in the market for another forward.

“Trevan’s done exactly what I expected him to do as a young lad jumping up a couple of levels,” said Saunders.

“He’s done really well but you don’t want to be going into the season relying on one forward.

“Trying to sign a centre-forward is always hard, never mind the week before the season starts.

“It’s something we’re looking at but we’ll see how that goes.”

Saunders remains ambitious to take Tonbridge into the play-offs in a division that gets harder each season.

After finishing ninth and 14th in his first two years, he’s hoping to take the next step.

“Like always, we want to try and make the play-offs,” said Saunders.

“The first season we came in we just missed out.

“Last season we had a lot of injuries and not having a settled squad cost us but where we finished in a real tough league was still a success.

“Now you want to go one better and try and push on and bridge that gap.

“I feel we’ve got a better squad, more depth to the squad other than in the forward area at the moment, but everywhere else we’ve got good competition and hopefully we can push on.

“But it’s not going to be easy. This league is getting harder and harder.

“When people say the National League is an extension of the Football League, the South is getting that way with the National League.

“You’re getting the full-time teams and some of the money flying about and the budgets are crazy.

“It’s tough to compete with but we’ll do the best we can and hopefully bridge that gap.

“If we can keep everyone fit and keep the squad together then I think we’ve got a chance of doing all right but, like anything, you’re never 100% sure.

“You’ve got to give it a few games to see where people are at.”

Tonbridge have been boosted by the return of right-back Tariq Hinds who, like Jamie Fielding, is back after missing out on a full-time deal elsewhere.

Saunders said: “I’ve had people go to me why have we taken Jamie and Tariq back after they left?

“I heard someone say Tariq went looking for more money.

“The conversation I had with both Tariq and Jamie was that they wanted to try and go full-time and I can’t blame lads for that.

“If they’ve got the opportunity to go full-time and it works out, why wouldn’t you want to go for it?

“At the same time, I said if it doesn’t work out give us a call and we’ll keep in contact.

“Both did that and as soon as Tariq realised it wasn’t happening, he rung me.

“He said he was getting offers at the same level and if he was staying at this level he’d rather be back with Tonbridge, which says a lot about us.

“He was a good player last year and he’ll be good again this year.”

Tonbridge have also boosted their defensive options by signing Nazir Bakrin although Tom Clifford has left due to work commitments.

The former Charlton youngster, who made three first-team appearances for the Addicks in EFL Trophy matches, impressed on trial.

“Naz has done well,” said Saunders.

“I watched him quite a bit for Charlton’s under-23s last year.

“He’s an athlete, he’s a good size, he adds something different to what we’ve got at the back and gives us a different option.

“He came in and did really well and earned himself a deal.

“That’s what you want when you have these trialists in.

“He’s played all across the backline in pre-season.

“He’s a good lad and wants to improve.”