Sheppey United have got plenty of business to conclude but potential new signings are close to hand.

The Ites have fielded numerous trialists during pre-season and those looking to sign on at the club have been involved in games against Folkestone and Chatham in recent days..

Sheppey have seen some big names leave, with popular duo Connor Wilkins and Richie Hamill both on the move this summer, but assistant boss Geoff Record believes there is more than enough quality to fill the void.

Record said: “In terms of the supporters, they just have to be a little bit patient because when you lose the players we did in those key positions, it takes a little while to get everything sorted out but I am quietly confident that we will do that.

“We are always looking for good players but considering the players who have moved on we have done a lot of work behind the scenes to get these other players at training.

“They say trialist but, providing we can reach agreement with them, we want to sign a big percentage of those lads, which we haven’t done yet.

“We just need to let the pre-season unfold a little bit, find out if they are happy with us and we are happy with them. It is a matter of waiting to see how things unfold.

“They have all played at a decent level, in the league we’re in and there are a couple who have played higher. We’ll have a couple more games and then start to iron things out.”

The Ites continue their pre-season with a game at Swale neighbours Faversham Town on Saturday. They then head to Rochester United on Tuesday.

One of the new faces, striker Dan Carr, came close to scoring for the Ites at the weekend in a 2-1 defeat to Folkestone Invicta.

Sheppey were 1-0 up - with a goal from one of their trialist defenders - before two goals in the final 10 minutes saw Invicta turn it around.

“It was a great effort from Dan,” said the assistant. “It was a 40-yard lob over the keeper but it bounced and went over! That was really unlucky.

“He can play - there is no doubt about that. We can work a bit more on his fitness levels and hopefully, the more he plays,he will reach that.

“He is a six-footer, his general play is good, holding it up, bringing others into the game and then he hits the box and it is a matter of getting crosses into him.

“Apart from the opening 10 minutes (against Folkestone), where they were on top because we have so many new players, we played really well.

“There were a lot of changes in the second half, a lot of players on and off, they didn’t really hurt us much but they had a lot more possession.

“With 10 to go they made it 1-1 and then made it 2-1 but it was a good performance.

“In terms of the game, the quality was really good. It was a friendly but everyone was taking it pretty seriously and for most of the game we played well, we took the lead when our centre-half towered above everyone else. He’s a big lad and he slotted it over the keeper which was good.”

Sheppey were back in action on Tuesday night against Chatham Town.

The Ites lost one of their trialists to injury early on and conceded after 15 minutes.

Chats scored twice more, either side of an effort from Danny Leonard that hit the woodwork. Sheppey also missed a penalty in the 3-0 defeat.