Ramsgate boss Matt Longhurst is excited to be working with some fresh new recruits.

A former England youth international, a big striker who played professionally in Albania and an attacking player with bundles of potential have all joined the Rams in recent days as the race for promotion hots up.

Longhurst loves working with players he believes have a chance and sees a bit of Alfie May in newcomer Bobby Dunn after watching him in training. Former Charlton junior Dunn, 18, has joined from Sevenoaks.

“He is a very, very talented boy,” said the Rams boss. “He’s a left-footed attacking player and gives us another option and a bit of balance, can play on either wing, no.10 and a number eight.

“Watching him train, I can see he has a little bit about him and he reminds me a bit of the attitude of Alfie May, they have that bite about them.

“Ten years ago I was speaking in the press about blooding the likes of Alfie May and 10 years later he scores four for Cheltenham in the league [He netted four on Saturday in a 5-5 draw at Wycombe].

“This kid (May) came from Bexley Borough when I signed him at Corinthian and put him in the under-21s and look what he has achieved. A lot of that is down to him and his attitude and application and Bobby is very similar, like Ollie Bate, both are 18 and very talented.

“Getting to play this level of football at this age is so valuable to their progress.”

Ramsgate’s weekend game against Corinthian was called off after a roof was blown off the turnstiles at the Southwood Stadium, exposing electrical cables. It meant the ground was shut all weekend before repairs could be made.

It’s given Longhurst extra time to work with some of his new recruits, two of which have come from Carshalton.

Box-to-box midfielder Eze Ebuzoeme has played at Getafe in Spain, as well as Millwall, and represented England at under-16 level.

“He’s a really talented player,” said Longhurst. “He is a big, strong and powerful player, he suits our style of play and just needed a couple of weeks to settle in.”

He was an unused substitute against Burgess Hill the week before and came off the bench last Tuesday in a 1-0 loss to Haywards Heath.

Also new to the club is 6ft 5in striker Melos Ajvazi, aged 21.

“He is something totally different to what we have got,” Longhurst said of Ajvazi, who played professionally in Albania and represented the country at under-19 level.

Ramsgate face an interesting few weeks ahead in Isthmian South East - not that the manager is looking any further than this Saturday.

They have a run of games against teams in the lower end of the table starting at second-bottom Phoenix Sports on Saturday. Ramsgate host East Grinstead (15th), Lancing (16th) and Corinthian (11th) after that before heading to Whitehawk (17th).

Longhurst said: “If we want to secure our place in that top five these are games we realistically need to be winning but Lancing was probably one of, if not the hardest, away game. Tactically they caused us problems and we had to change things to get a result.

“East Grinstead is my old club and they are desperate for points, same as Phoenix, trying to stay up. It is so difficult but we just have to take it game by game. We’ll tick Phoenix off and move on.”