WIVENHOE Town boss Gary Monti believes an enforced break in action has come at a good timer for his injury-hit Dragons squad.

Despite missing ten members of their first-team squad, Wivenhoe ended a run of three defeats to make progress in the Thurlow Nunn League First Division Knockout Cup with a 4-2 win against Felixstowe & Walton United Reserves on Tuesday.

That has set up a second round home tie against Brightlingsea Regent Reserves, but it is the Dragons' last action for a week as they have no game scheduled for this weekend.

However, Monti doesn't see that as a negative.

He said: “We now have a weekend off and that’s not bad because we still have a lot of players out.

“We had ten missing on Tuesday against Felixstowe (& Walton Reserves) – eight of whom would probably have been starters.

“Having these players out is hurting us big time and this break gives us a chance to get some of them back now.

“Not all of them, but there will be some.

“Tom Lakin, who got injured (in a nasty clash of heads) at Harwich, is going to have to have two plates put in his face and he’ll be out for the season, which is a real shame because he was playing really well.

“Lewis Hagland has also come into the team but he’s done his hamstring properly and will be out for six to seven weeks.

“We've had 15 games now in eight weeks and that’s a lot.

“That’s why you have people pulling hamstrings and things like that so the break has come at a good time.

“I’m hoping that five or six will be back available in time for the next league game (on October 12), although we do have a game put in for Tuesday.

“There is an Essex Senior Cup tie at Maldon & Tiptree so the break may not be as long as it could have been.

“But we do at least have Saturday off and we’ll try to get some of the players who have been out in for the reserves to get them minutes."

Wivenhoe beat Felixstowe & Walton with two goals from Ross James and one apiece from CJ Cabulo and Sam Mead and while it there were parts of his team's performance that he felt could have been better, Monti felt it was a result that would lift his squad after three defeats.

“I was pleased with the result but the performance wasn’t really that great," he said.

“We started off very well and I thought it could be a hatful, but we then sat back and overplayed it a bit if I’m honest.

“We sat a bit too deep and allowed them back into the game with two goals that were soft from our perspective.

“To be fair to them, they played some nice football but I thought the game was there for the taking.

“So I was pleased that we got the win in the end, especially after losing three.

“It was nice for morale and confidence and it will be good to have a bit of a break now."