Leyton Orient boss Steve Davis has been left as happy as he could be with his side's pre-season preparations, but admits circumstances mean they could still be "a couple of weeks behind" come the National League opener with Sutton United on August 5.

The O's were still searching for a training base when new owner Nigel Travers took over late last month, while Davis himself did not arrive at the club until July 10 - and has been playing catch-up alongside his new squad ever since.

Given the need to hastily arrange pre-season fixtures and re-build a squad decimated over the summer, the new head coach is pleased the O's find themselves only slightly off his aims - and thinks the league season will only help them to get up to speed.

He said: "We want to get players up to speed, we’re playing catch-up and we’re probably two weeks away from where we’d want to be, but we’ve got to try to get the minutes into the plaeyrs as quickly as we can.

We probably can’t bridge the gap. If we push them too hard, they’re going to break down and get injured and you end up with a squad full of injured players.

"We will make additions that hopefully can come straight in and be fit, but all we can do is push them as hard as possible but it’s a balancing act.

"I’d rather go into the season with everyone fit but maybe slightly behind where I’d want them to be, but we can sort them out when the games start – and they come thick and fast.

"We want to start the season well, the lads are frustrated we haven’t scored tonight – and if they’re annoyed at that now, that’s good enough for me because it shows they want to do well."