Having just lost Domico Coddington through a serious injury to his foot, unfortunately we have also had to say goodbye this week to another Bermuda Hogges player in the shape of Boulevard striker Shaki Crockwell — who has asked to be released from his contract.

When we first picked the squad back in April, we were determined to ensure that everybody interested in getting involved in our professional franchise was given the chance to do so.

This was the reason we originally chose Shaki, because we all rated him as a player and we were keen to have him around — despite being aware that he would most likely be unavailable for our away games.

It’s no secret that Shaki is still on the US stop-list for a past indiscretion, but in our early training sessions we were impressed with not only his ability but also his bubbly character and the positive affect he had on the players around him.

But after we made an internal decision to ban him for the first two games of the season for his head-butt in the FA Cup final, and with other players staking a claim for a starting spot, Shaki suddenly found himself with only eight games left and in no way guaranteed of a place in the starting eleven.

We could see in recent weeks that he wasn’t happy. His usual enthusiasm at training was lacking and it wasn’t a complete surprise when he approached us asking to leave.

Just to be absolutely clear, we didn’t view Shaki as a fringe player by any means and he would have had an opportunity at some stage to prove his worth. We’re entirely open-minded when it comes to selection — particularly with it being so early in the season.

I would be the first to admit, for instance, that before the season started I hadn’t envisaged Dandy Town midfielder Jared Peniston being part of our starting eleven, but when he was given his chance he really caught the eye and has been rewarded as a result.

But having missed the opening two games, Shaki was very definitely in a tough spot and was clearly concerned about the volume of football he would see over the summer.

If he manages to sort out what he needs to away from the football pitch in terms of his presence on the stop-list, we would certainly welcome him back with open arms. But for now, we wish him well as he heads off to play in the Island Soccer League.

With Domico out injured and Shaki having left, we now have a squad of 21 — all of whom are fit and ready to play. We haven’t decided yet whether to replace Shaki, but after our next couple of games we will look at the injury situation an re-assess. But West Ham played 40 games this past season in the Premier League with a squad of 20, so unless we run into a major injury crisis, we should hopefully be OK.

Meanwhile, we now have exactly a week until our next league game against the Cleveland City Stars at home, and the challenge for us over this three week lull has been keeping the players focused and motivated.

As well as all the usual training and fitness work, we managed to get in a full 90-minute game against a patched up Somerset Trojans side last week at Malabar.

With the way the USL schedule has worked, all the other teams in the league have now played six games while we’ve only had three — so it’s incredibly important that we’re switched on from the opening minute against Charlotte and avoid being sluggish and off the pace after such a long break.

But I’ve been very impressed with the boys’ attitude and work ethic so far and we’ll be looking for our opening Bermuda Hogges win on June 6!