HALESOWEN boss Paul Smith says he will have to face up to a tough selection headache when the season finally gets underway this weekend.

The Yeltz kick off the new campaign with a trip to Yaxley on Saturday before Kidlington visit the Grove on Tuesday night (7.45pm).

They head into the Southern League Division One Central curtain raiser on the back of a final pre-season friendly draw at Chasetown.

The promising summer schedule saw them win five and draw two of their nine warm-up matches as well as bagging a brilliant 31 goals.

However, Smith admits the strength of his squad means some difficult decisions are on the horizon.

He said: "I have a huge selection dilemma now and will have to make my decisions. It's a good problem to have but we have 21 fit players who have all done well and all want to start.

"I'm going to have a few disappointed boys at the weekend but it's a long season and we want to be competing on lots of different fronts and a strong squad is going to help us do that."

The manager is looking forward to finally getting the new season underway.

He added: "We can't wait now and the players are all itching to get going.

"Our league has started a little later than a few others and we're just looking forward to it.

"The game against Chasetown as another good workout for us against a very physical side.

"We haven't been put under the pump as much as that physically in pre-season so it was good for us to experience. That's not a criticism of of Chasetown at all because they roughed us up a little and it was pleasing to see the way we stood up to that and showed good discipline.

"We are in fine fettle at the moment and further forward than we thought we'd be at this stage.

"It's now all about taking this form and quality into the season. It's going to be important that we are at it from the very start.

"I'm confident that if we perform to the levels we are capable of then we can make a really good start to the season.

The Yeltz have no new injury issues ahead of the weekend. George Forsyth remains two to three weeks away following a foot injury.