Steve Lovell expects the Isthmian South East division to be as competitive as ever ahead of Herne Bay’s opening match.

Bay’s new-look squad will begin their campaign against Burgess Hill at Winch’s Field this Saturday.

Plenty of money has been thrown around by some of Bay’s rivals in the summer.

But former Gillingham manager Lovell, working with son Mark as his assistant, has gelled a squad together well in pre-season and could spring a surprise or two.

“The league is going to be quite a strong league again this year,” Lovell said.

“A lot of teams are recruiting some decent players. It’s going to be a very tight and competitive league.

“All we can do is concentrate on our own team and I think we have done remarkably well, really, considering it’s a brand-new squad of players.

“They’re gelling together nicely but only time will tell.”

Weekend visitors Burgess Hill are now managed by former Leyton Orient winger Dean Cox, who joined in April from Lancing.

“Dean Cox has come in,” said Lovell, who watched Hill’s midweek FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round home replay as they edged past Sutton Common Rovers 2-1.

“I only know Burgess Hill from the last couple of seasons.

“When we’ve played them, they have been really strong. They like to play football.

“But that’s all I know about them, I don’t know what Dean has done to the squad since he’s come in.”

Lovell says he’s pleased with the squad he’s put together and doesn’t intend to bolster it at this stage.

He added: “Obviously you’re going to get injuries, you’re going to get suspensions. If that occurs, we’ll see what’s available.

“But at the minute, we have the squad we have and we can change our formation around.

“Unless we get any injuries or something happens in training this week - hopefully that doesn’t happen - but we’ll see what’s around then.”

Bay finished pre-season with a 1-1 draw at Isthmian Premier Folkestone last weekend.

Lovell was encouraged again by what he saw, stating: “It was a good performance - very good.

“Folkestone are a good outfit. They’ve been in that Premier Division for the last few years now.

“I thought we had three or four opportunities in the first half, so we could, actually, have won the game.

“But it was a good, solid, performance to finish off the pre-season schedule.”

Wideman Gil Carvalho got Bay’s goal in wet conditions.

Lovell suggested: “I think there’s only one game in pre-season he hasn’t scored in!

“He has been excellent but the rest of the boys have done well.

“They’ve helped him and given him opportunities to get those goals so it’s been a good team effort.”

Bay winger Troy Howard has rejoined Southern Counties East Premier Division Lydd as part of a dual-registration agreement, scoring the only goal of their weekend FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round win against Camberley Town.

Bay will visit Combined Counties League Premier Division North Bedfont Sports in the FA Cup Preliminary Round next Saturday.

The club are looking to recruit more volunteers to join their media team.

For more details, email media@hernebayfootballclub.co.uk stating your name, phone number and expertise.