CRAIG Wilding cannot wait to get his Worcester City season under way.

City’s captain has been forced to sit out his club’s first two games of the Blue Square South season against Bognor Regis and St Albans through suspension.

The striker was sent off in the 6-0 defeat at Blyth Spartans in April and was handed a three-game ban, which also saw him miss the final day of last season at Barrow.

However, Wilding is now available for selection and is in the frame for a recall when Richard Dryden’s team host Hayes and Yeading United on Saturday.

The former Redditch player has completed a full pre-season programme and is eager to be involved.

He said: “ I am more than ready to go. Since the last league game I played it seems like a really long time but hopefully I will benefit from that later in the season.

“Having done all the pre-season and lookng forward to the first game it’s been very frustrating.”

Wilding, though, could find that being suspended has come at a high price as the introduction of Mark Owen and Marco Adaggio to the team means he is not necessarily guaranteed a starting place against Hayes.

Manager Richard Dryden could play all three in a 4-3-3 formation, play Adaggio behind Wilding and Owen or opt to leave one of them out altogether.

Wilding only managed eight goals last season but was the St George’s Lane club’s second highest marksman with 19 the year before.

It will be an interesting dilemma for Dryden to ponder as he will no doubt be keen to get his skipper back on the pitch and mixing it with opposition defenders.

Wilding was left out of the final warm-up match at Rugby and watched from the sidelines at Bognor on Saturday and last night, something he has not found easy to do.

He said: “It was a good result on Saturday but frustrating watching.”

The 26-year-old is part of a 19-man squad which he believes has the potential to do well in Blue Square South over the next nine months.

It may be early days but, having watched the team at close quarters both in training and on the pitch, Wilding thinks Dryden has assembled a good blend of youth and experience.

“I think we have got a good squad,” he said. “If Saturday is anything to go by then we have got a good chance. We have got a good balance in the squad with youngsters and old heads.”