WALTHAM ABBEY captain Lee White has admitted the coming season in the Ryman Premier Division will be even tougher after the club were left ‘in shock’ at the departures of three key players from last year’s promotion campaign.

Jordan Bostock, Lee Sontag and Marc Sontag have all decided to move to pastures new this summer, leaving a large void in midfield, which White acknowledges will be difficult to fill.

Several additions have been made to the squad, but it remains to be seen whether they will be able to step in to the sizeable boots of the influential trio.

The Abbotts will be particularly hard-pushed to unearth a player capable of contributing a similar amount of goals to Marc Sontag, whose 15 strikes from 45 games was third only to strikers Billy Holland and Harry Elmes, and played a vital role in propelling Abbey into the play-offs.

White expressed concerns ahead of the new season, which begins in earnest at Tooting & Mitcham United on August 15, although he remained confident that they can achieve their goal of survival.

“We’ve got some new arrivals, who are all welcome additions to the squad, but they are going to have some big boots to fill. Jordan, Lee and Marc have all left and they were key players for us,” he said. “It’s a big blow because it’s a close-knit squad that we have here with a great understanding.

“Only time will tell if it will have an effect on our football, but we need to move on and hopefully bring some players in that are as good, if not better, that can help make it a smooth transition for us.

“It was a shock that they left and it will be harder because of it, but we’ve still got some high expectations and our first season in the Premier Division has to be about survival.”

Abbey secured their place in step three of the non-league pyramid with a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Concord Rangers in the final of the Division One North play-offs.

And they have managed to carry momentum from what was the greatest achievement in the club’s history into pre-season. In the past week they have edged past Enfield 1893 by a single goal and they have enjoyed a 5-2 trouncing of Soham Town Rangers.

The imposing strike partnership of Holland and Elmes showed plenty of encouraging signs ahead of the new season by scoring three between them, while White was also on the scoresheet with a penalty.

“I’m keen to get back into the swing of things now,” added the skipper. “It’s nice to have a totally new challenge. We’re all looking forward to it and we want to enjoy it.”