Ashford Town manager Steve Lovell says he is 'excited' by the challenge of building a new team at Homelands.

The departure of several of his most experienced players from last season’s squad, as part of the fall-out from the club’s financial problems, has left Lovell (pictured) looking urgently for fresh talent with the start of the Ryman League season only three weeks away.

But the Nuts and Bolts boss insisted: “I am quite excited by the challenge of having to find new players and mould them into a new team.”

That process included a trial match at Homelands on Tuesday, when local players had the opportunity to turn up and show Lovell what they could do.

“We had 25 players taking part in total,” said Lovell. “There were two or three new faces whom I was quite impressed with and they have been invited to attend some of our training sessions.

“Also, it was good to see some of the other trialists I have been looking at in a game situation, and so it was a very worthwhile exercise.”

One of those trialists, centre-half Laurence Harvey, scored the second-half goal with a header from a corner that gave Ashford a 1-0 win in their opening pre-season friendly at Tunbridge Wells on Saturday.