Ebbsfleet United boss Liam Daish is making a second goalkeeper his priority as the league season approaches.

The club’s only senior goalkeeper Preston Edwards is currently injured and that has highlighted the growing need to find a challenger for the No.1 jersey.

Daish’s side open their Blue Square Bet Premier season on August 13 with the visit of York to Stonebridge Road.

He said: "We’ve got to bring someone in and we need to have two goalkeepers.

"We have a lot of long overnight trips next season and we can’t take it for granted that we get up in the morning and our goalkeeper is going to be okay.

"We need two goalkeepers because this league is not Mickey Mouse – it’s a hard league.

"If we head up somewhere like Gateshead and find out that Preston has been ill overnight, then we won’t have a goalkeeper to play on the Saturday.

"We had a taste of what could happen last season where the league wouldn’t give us dispensation to sign another keeper when Preston wasn’t available.

"We don’t want to leave it to the powers that be again as some clubs seem to get the dispensation and others don’t."

Daish played ex-Histon and Stevenage keeper Joe Welch in the first half during Monday’s 1-0 pre-season win at Canterbury and replaced him in the second half by fellow trialist Tom McNeil, a former Wycombe player.