Faversham joint-manager John Embery has been hoping to tap into the knowledge of Colliers Wood’s league rivals ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup encounter.

Town’s new-look regime will begin their competitive campaign on Saturday at Salters Lane in the extra preliminary round against the Combined Counties Premier Division South outfit.

Embery is excited to get going alongside joint-manager Jermaine Darlington and hopes to bring in three new players ahead of their season opener.

He admitted: “I don’t know much about them at all if I’m being honest with you.

“I know a few people that manage in their league so I will have a chat with them this week to get a bit of information on them.

"It’s hard because we wanted to get them watched, but there’s been so much to deal with at the moment.

“As much as I wanted to get them watched for the FA Cup, the league is the bread and butter.

“We will have to rely on other peoples’ reports for this one.”

Embery says, of the three players he hopes to bring in this week, two are versatile while the other is a frontman.

The joint-manager hopes the new recruits will help improve Faversham’s strength-in-depth, saying: “Our starting 11 is strong. But we look at the group and think ‘If we get one or two injuries, we might be a bit light'.

“It’s about bringing players in and people who can play multiple positions.

“Two of them are adaptable and one is an out-and-out striker. We feel like we need an out-and-out striker.

“That will be a big bonus for us and I think we will be pretty much there then.”

As well as a new management team, the club also have a new-look board after a summer of change. Former player Gary Smart is chairman, Marc Leader is vice-chairman and Marc’s dad - ex-chairman Ray Leader - has returned to Faversham as club president.

Embery has been impressed with the new board.

“It’s really important. Ray picked the club from its knees in 2005,” he said.

“Marc, his son, is now involved and Paul and the rest of the board have been excellent.”

Long-serving defender Matt Bourne led the Lilywhites out at the weekend as they drew 1-1 with Southern Counties East Division 1 Faversham Strike Force - who they now groundshare with - in a friendly.

Embery has confirmed Bourne, the club’s record appearance-maker, will skipper the side this campaign.

“Yeah of course. He’s going to be important in respects of leading off the pitch,” he said.

A trialist scored Faversham’s goal against Strike Force, although a decision was not due to be made on whether he will be kept on until after a behind-closed-doors friendly which was held on Tuesday.

On the friendly against Faversham Strike Force, he reflected: “It’s always one of those ones.

“For them, it’s like a cup final and, for us, it’s just about getting minutes. It was a good exercise because Strike Force worked hard and they made our players work hard.

“It showed some are off it fitness-wise. We played a few trialists and some have been out with injuries.

"So it was a good opportunity to see where we are.”

The winners of the extra preliminary round tie will earn £1,125 in prize money.