Chichester City back in action ahead of Isthmian premier adventure

The Oaklands Park club have retained all but two of their Isthmian south east promotion-winning squad and plan to unveil a key new signing in the next few days.

And coach Danny Potter says the players are already in good shape as they throw themselves into pre-season training and a series of friendlies, which begin with home tussles with Pagham tonight (7.30pm) and Christchurch next Tuesday (7.45pm).

"We started with a bit of testing but we’re lucky in that we always have a lot of retained players, so we know them and know they’ll come back in good shape.

"We had a good session on Tuesday night and are doing plenty of ball work. We had good numbers and now look forward to playing Pagham in our first friendly.”

City have seen Kyle O’Brien leave for Littlehampton and Kaleem Haitham for Gosport, but expect everyone else to stay. One new recruit will be annunced soon.

Potter said that meant key players like Jimmy Wild, Connor Cody, Lloyd Rowlatt, Josh Clack, Rob Hutchings and Ryan Davidson would be all part of their attempt to hold their own at step three.

He said having players who’d played at step three – along with his fellow coach Darin Killpartrick, who coached at step three with Bognor for many seasons – would be important.

City will not have an under-23 side next year but will have a senior reserve team playing league football, in addition to their U18 and U16 squads.