FLACKWELL Heath start the third division season at home to Edgware tomorrow minus a manager and without three of their best players.

Boss Laurie Craker quit after last Saturday's goalless draw at home to higher league Yeading leaving the Heathens managerless seven days before the big kick-off.

Flackwell tried to talk him out of it but Craker confirmed his resignation on Tuesday.

He said: "There were a few internal problems. We've lost a lot of players and things aren't looking great and I thought that I would let someone else have a go."

Last season's top scorer Jamie Charles has gone to Marlow and Matt Flint and Neil Catlin were both poached by first division Windsor and Eton after the two sides met in a pre-season friendly that Craker had not been happy about.

Chairman Terry Glynn said: "It's not the best timing. I'm a bit mystified by it all. We've lost a couple of influential players but we had had a good pre-season.