PAUL Masters has some serious thinking to do before Saturday's Evo-Stik Southern One South & West trip to Mangotsfield United.

The Winchester City boss has a near full-strength squad at his disposal, leaving him with some big decisions to make.

Experienced right-back Jake Newton is the only absentee, still suffering with the hamstring problem that ruled him out of Monday’s 3-1 derby win over AFC Totton.

But left-back Danny King, who missed the whole of last season with an ankle injury, is back in the frame after being rested for the Totton game and replaced by Leigh Mills. 

Adam Tomasso who, in the manager’s words, has been “unlucky not to start”, is ready to cover again in Newton’s absence.

Masters, whose side sit second, five points adrift of early pacemakers North Leigh, said: “We’ve got lots of tests coming up and everyone knows it’s not going to be easy, but what we have got is a good squad with everyone pushing each other for places.

“For the first time this weekend I’ve got some big choices to make, but they’re a good group of lads who all play for each other and get on really well.”

While Winchester’s home form has been flawless, they have had a mixed bag of results on the road with one win, one draw and one defeat.

Ironically, it was the win – a 6-5 goal bonanza at Wimborne – that gave Masters most cause for concern.

“After conceding five at Wimborne, we tried to tighten up a bit without nullifying our attacking options too much.” he explained.

“We’ve done that and, as long as we don’t concede too many, we’re always capable of scoring on the counter-attack away from home.”

In Warren Bentley, Winchester possess a striker capable of prising open any defence.

The prolific 25-year-old has banged in 12 goals in five games in an explosive start to the season and, unsurprisingly, the big fish are starting to circle.

“There’s been a few watching Warren,” said Masters. “He needs to get his head down and keep doing what he’s doing.”

After watching Bentley score twice against Totton on Monday, Stags boss Steve Hollick labelled him “exceptional.”

He said: “He’s cool under pressure, he knows where the back of the net is and he’s so difficult to pick up.

“We had good intelligence on him and people were doing their best to stop him, but his movement’s so good that we couldn’t deal with him.”