WHEN St Austell kick off their Western League Premier Division season at home to Ivybridge Town on Saturday (3pm), the Poltair faithful would be excused for wondering which is the home team.

Because since the Lillywhites played in the Cornwall Senior Cup final on May 10, the entire first team squad – along with manager Chris Knight and his coaches – have departed.

It was a squad packed with experience aplenty of the Western League and South West Peninsula League.

So when Adam Castlehouse was appointed as Knight’s successor on June 17, he was faced with the enormous task of a complete rebuild in a short space of time.

Castlehouse, who recently spent a couple of seasons as a coach at Dobwalls, set about it by raiding the Devon leagues for players he had knowledge of.

A dozen players have arrived and will form the basis of the team which will run out against Ivybridge, whose line-up will include many players – and for that matter management team – Castlehouse will be familiar with from his time at Lantoom Park.

People looking from the outside are wondering how a squad with little or no Western League experience is going to fare this season.

However, Castlehouse says he has seen enough in pre-season to believe the players are prepared for the challenges ahead.

He said: “It will take time for them to gel but the players are really hungry and want to prove to the doubters – and I imagine there are many – that we will be anything but cannon fodder this season.

“We are under no illusions, there are some really strong teams in this league who have aspirations to get up to the Southern League.

“But if I didn’t believe in my abilities I wouldn’t have taken the job. We’re going to need to stick together in the first six to 10 games, but even at this stage I am seeing signs that these players are capable of that.”

Despite the obvious problems he faced on arrival at Poltair, Castlehouse said: “This was an opportunity I could not have said no to, regardless of the time frame.

“St Austell didn’t know quite how things were going to work out when Chris (Knight) left, it was going to be different for everyone. But I’ve been fortunate to be able to bring in quite a lot of players who we think can make the standard.

“I was disappointed not to be able to keep some of the old guard but football moves on and in some ways it was quite nice to have a blank canvas.

“The last few weeks have been a headache but at the same time it’s been enjoyable to recruit the players we needed.”

He went on: “Our ambition this season has to be to stabilise. I’d be very disappointed if we didn’t stay in this division.

“Generally the club is going through a transitional period off the field, including getting the women’s side on a better footing and to how strong it was not long ago.

“We also have the under 18s and the reserves doing well and we want the pathway to the first team to be there for them.”

Castlehouse has brought in Martin Marshall as head coach while Nick Mills has joined the club as physio.