Walton Casuals have suffered an exodus of players of sorts in the last week, but boss Mark Hams remains optimistic ahead of the new season.

Defender Adriano Moraes has returned to Carshalton Athletic, the club he left for Casuals three weeks ago, admitting he was unsettled at the Waterside stadium.

Fellow new signing and striker Andre Scarlett has also walked for similar reasons, and midfidler Lee Hall has left after taking a new job that restricts his weekday training.

Hams said: “Adriano and I had a sensible and open conversation.

“He was not comfortable at Casuals, he wasn’t sure why. He liked it over at Carshalton and it’s a good club run by good people.

“There are no hard feelings, he’s a lovely lad and I wish him well.”

Moraes said: “I wasn’t fitting in at Casuals. It’s a good set up, but when you leave a club where you’re happy sometimes you realise you’ve made a mistake.

“Yes, I joined Casuals to win things, but what’s the point if you’re not enjoying your football?”

Casuals begin their Ryman Division One South campaign at league favourites Hastings this weekend, and Hams was wary of the challenging start.

He said: “We’re probably going to have it tough on the first day, although we may find that playing them so early on in the season they have areas they need to improve upon.

“We’ve strengthened our squad slightly from last year, and that 5 to 10 per cent increase may be enough to improve things.

“We’ll find out when we kick-off.”