HAVEN head coach James Coyle says he is likely to play what he believes to be his strongest starting 13 in next weekend’s friendly with Workington Town.

Haven host Town in the 2016 Ike Southward Memorial trophy fixture but the game is Coyle’s only opportunity to see his side in action before the first league match on February 7.

Despite having just the one pre-season game, Coyle isn’t concerned and wants to see continuity in the side when they kick-off the Championship season against Halifax next month.

“Our season won’t be determined by the first few games we play,” Coyle said. “There are 30 games in a season.

“I’m probably going to pick our best team for the Workington game to give us continuity ahead of the first match against Halifax.”

With half-back Dion Aiye returning to the country this week, Coyle will be working with a full squad ahead of the season opener with only a few players still sidelined by injury.

“When Dion gets back he’ll slot straight in,” the Haven boss added. “Brocky [John Paul Brocklebank] has filled in and has looked good in training.

“He’s stepped in to some big shoes which were left by Dion and those two will be fighting it out for that half-back spot.

“Louis [Jouffret] has been with us a week and he’s back up to speed with things.

“I expected he would come over ready to go and I think he is, he’s fit and is looking sharp.

“We’ve still got Scott McAvoy to come back, Liam Carberry is four or five weeks away from full training and Foxy [Stephen Fox] is just starting to come back too.

“We moved to training on grass last week to help the transition before the year starts too, because it’s a completely different impact to astroturf.

“You don’t want to be leaving it too late and you want the players to have enough to time adjust.

“We’ve brought little bits of ball work and skills into our sessions and we’ll be reducing the volume of training that we do when the season starts.

“It’s about maintaining a level of fitness throughout the year rather than burning out.”