Canterbury Hockey Club have moved quickly to fill the gaps which have appeared in their men’s squad this summer.

Ali Bray has joined from Old Loughtonians as a defensive replacement for Aaron Hudson, signed up by Barnes after landing a teaching job in London.

That follows the arrival of Canadian goalkeeper Antoni Kindler, who replaces outgoing Ben Cowling. Work has taken Cowling to Southampton.

Canterbury skipper Michael Farrer said: “We seem to have managed to replace like-for-like, which hopefully means we can keep the consistency we had last season.

“There have quite a lot of personnel changes at other teams in the league, so it’ll be tricky to start off with.Our aim will be the play-offs, so we’ve got a chance to qualify for Europe.”

Last season’s campaign ended in play-off heartbreak for Canterbury’s men and women, so the prize of European hockey now looks even more attractive.

Farrer’s side will have to manage without Jack Balsdon in 2013/14 as the teenager is about to leave for university.

The league campaign starts on September 14 when Canterbury travel to Reading but there is plenty of pre-season action lined up before that.