DARTFORD manager Tommy Sampson is putting his trust in youngsters for the coming season.

Sampson used a young team last season but is backing even more teenagers to fight their way to a first team place for the coming Dr Martens Eastern Division 1 campaign.

Pre-season training is due to begin on Saturday and the first pre-season match the young players will have a chance to prove themselves in is scheduled for July 17 at Ramsgate.

He said: "Our financial situation at Dartford dictates that at least half the team will be young players. We have to give youth its head.

"We are aiming towards 2006 and the opening of the new stadium and we want to have a team which has a majority of homegrown talent."

Darts will be further strengthened by a number of young players that new reserve team manager Bob Pittaway has brought to the club.

Sampson said: "Bobby has brought six or seven players with him that he had at Tunbridge and he thinks two or three of them will push for a first team spot.

"I have 24 players under the age of 20 in a squad of about 35 and the plan is to give them a crack in training and in the early pre-season games and see how they cope."

But Sampson understands that, although the junior players represent the future of the club, the senior squad members are equally vital.

"The more experienced players have all signed on again for the season and they're all looking forward to it. You need to find that right blend of youth and experience.”