Manager Steve Lovell continued rebuilding his Ashford squad with the signing of defender Bryan Pearce.

The former Hythe, Croydon and Tunbridge Wells centre-back’s performance in Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat in a pre-season friendly at Margate convinced Lovell of his suitability and the Ashford boss snapped him up afterwards.

Pearce had partnered Lee Hockey in central defence and assistant manager Hugo Langton said afterwards: "He did well and what’s more he’s a local lad."

Town’s need for greater strength in defence has been underlined by Saturday’s 4-0 defeat away to Ashford (Middlesex) which was followed by Tuesday’s reverse at Margate.

Langton, however, is not perturbed by the seven goals the side have leaked in four days.

He said: "Because we’ve got such a young, new-look squad, we’re doing a lot of mixing and matching in our pre-season fixtures.

"We have to extract everything we can get from these games."

Saturday’s eighth annual meeting between the two Ashfords ended in a comprehensive win for the Middlesex side.

Billy Jeffreys scored a hat-trick for the home side against their Kent opponents who gave every one of their 18-strong squad a run-out.

Margate’s introduction of Kenny Pratt in the second half swung Tuesday’s game in their favour.

"We did well enough at Margate until the second half but we’re using these games to learn as much as we can about the players we’ve brought in," Langton added.

Ashford continue their pre-season preparation on Saturday away to Ryman League Division 1 North side Thamesmead.

Midfielder Danny Lye will miss the start of the league season against Croydon on Saturday, August 15 through suspension.