The Bucks were already without influential skipper Terry Bowker who broke two ribs in the pre season game against Barnsley.

But then Tommy Agus came a cropper – suffering a deep leg wound in Saturday's friendly at Clitheroe.

Reed said: "It is a crushing blow, we've lost Tommy Agus for two weeks.

"We will now be looking to see if we can get somebody in, maybe on loan, in time for Saturday.

"This is not what we want at the start of the season.

"We've already made our thoughts very clear that it is going to be a very difficult season and this isn't quite the start we had hoped for."

Pre-season matches have seen the Bucks pitted against teams including last season's FA Cup heroes Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday and local side Macclesfield Town with a mixed bag of results.

Speaking of his side's performance, Reed said: "I've been really, really pleased with the work ethic in training but I would have to say that I think the pre season games have been a little patchy.

"I thought we were poor against Hatfield, I thought we were very, very good for spells against a very strong Barnsley side. Against Parkgate, no question about it, we could have scored six or seven. Macclesfield, in the first half I didn't think we played very well then in the second half for 30 minutes we played the best football we've seen pre-season and scored three great goals only then for sloppy goals to go against us.

"Clive said the first half against Shrewsbury we were very poor then in the second half we played quite well against an extremely strong Shrewsbury side. On Saturday at Clitheroe, we were totally and utterly diabolical. There was a lack of desire, a lack of effort."

Preparations for the new season have been well underway for several weeks with a new, harder training regime brought in to help the team prepare for the tough opposition they're set to face. So how is Reed feeling about the new season approaching?

"Our preparations have been hampered a bit by the injury to the two lads," Reed said. "I'm feeling a little bit apprehensive. I think it is going to one of those where we don't know what we're against and we don't know what the game is going to be like."
Kick off for the match is at 3pm.

* Buxton's bank holiday weekend game against FC United of Manchester will be all ticket, it has been announced.

Tickets for the game, on August 23, will be on sale all week at the Silverlands from 10am to 7pm as well as at the Ilkeston Town match on August 19.