Collings, Chester, Pittock, Howick join Littlehampton ahead of switch to Isthmian south central

The Marigolds have made several signings and retained the nucleus of last season’s squad as Hand and George Gaskin plan for life in a new division.

Hand told us: “We’ve signed Billy Collings, a really experienced goalkeeper at this level. He had a couple of good years at Haywards Heath and is coming back from a serious injury but has been fit for the past six months. He’s played for Lewes and was at Brighton as a boy.

"Others coming in include Freddie Chester from Bognor – a really good young player.

"And his dad Derek Chester, who has been coaching at Worthing for the past three years through the youth sections, is coming in as a coach. He will bring a lot to the coaching side.

"Louis Pittock is a big signing for us – someone we’ve chased for the past year. He’s played for Crawley Down and Lancing. We played against him in the Senior Cup last year and wanted to sign him straight away. He’s a really good defensive player.

"Danny Howick is coming in – an ex-Steyning and Bognor player – really experienced for a young player. He’s been playing consistently for the past four seasons at this level. He’s also a local boy and one we’ve chased for a couple of years and we’ve finally got him.

"We’ve retained the majority of who we wanted and who we needed to keep – players like Jordan Layton, Marshall Ball, Tijan Sparks, Nic D’Arienzo, Tom Butler, Matt Storm, Josh Short, George obviously.

"We’re really happy with who we’ve kept. We knew we’d lose one or two. We do lose the boys who have to travel from quite a distance – they end up finding clubs closer to home and we can’t compete with them usually.

"We’re very happy with our business so far and I think there’ll be more to come.”