*BS*CLIVE WALKER is delighted with the progress his squad is showing after three pre-season games.

*BF*The Whites boss ran his eye over the squad for the first time this summer on Tuesday night when they were given a good workout by Conference South club Lewes.

Clive returned from the United States, where he has been coaching for a month, on Sunday – and, although Whites lost 3-0 after three goals in the closing half hour, he was satisfied with how things are developing on the fitness front.

He said: “We played well and you have to remember that not only are Lewes a top Conference South side, they are also two weeks ahead of us in their pre-season schedule. Add to that the fact they had 22 fully-fit class players down at Crabble, you have to say we did well.

“There are some defensive things that need working on. Better sides are going to test you out and we weren’t sharp enough or fit enough to deal with it.

*Q1*”That is something we will work on and improve. The whole idea of playing sides from a higher level is to improve fitness.

“You are more inclined to be chasing the ball against sides like Hinckley, Lewes, Millwall, Spurs and Margate. And when you’re chasing leather, your fitness levels are going to improve – also it’s going to get you sharper for when the season kicks off.

“I don’t see any point of playing many pre-season games against teams at the same level or lower, winning 3-0 and not building up fitness properly.

“So far I am happy with our progress at this stage and now it’s a case of upping our fitness and sharpness. Their goals came as we tired and lost the sharpness you need to compete at that higher level.”

Clive is working on a deal to sign winger Chris Chase. The former Watford trainee could sign on Saturday but discussions are still ongoing with the player and his agent.

But the club intend to make sure he is a Dover player this season.

The Whites boss said: “I definitely want to sign him. He’s a good player and we’ve made him an offer. We’re still talking and hopefully could be in a position to have him signed on this Saturday. But, at this moment, we’re still sorting things out.”

*Ppic1*Daniel Braithwaite, on the other hand, will be having an operation in August, which will rule him out for the first few months of the season.

Clive said that he was hoping that James Rogers will fit into that role – after being impressed with the youngster against Lewes.

He said: “James looked good and he can certainly play there. It’s just a case of these lads getting fitter. We should be stronger defensively this season – and the front players looked good.”

John Keister is not expected to play in Saturday’s friendly with Millwall after limping off on Tuesday.

Clive said: “He’s got a little knock and we won’t be taking any chances on it. At the moment, it’s looking like he’ll miss the game on Saturday.”

Jimmy Dryden’s progress with his knee rehab is encouraging – and Clive said: “Fingers crossed, he’ll be ready for the start of the new season. But we’re not going to gamble on his fitness, he’s a massive player for us.”

*BS*DOVER ATHLETIC have signed a cracker from Folkestone on a one-year deal.

*BF*No, it is not the return of fans’ favourite Walid Matata – but Folkestone lovely Sasha Buckingham.

Whites have agreed to sponsor Sasha, who is representing England at the Miss Euroregion competition, which will be holding its grand final in Ypres, Belgium, in October.

Sasha, who helped the club launch its 2006-2007 strip at Crabble on Saturday, is one of 10 girls in the England team taking part in the event against other European nations.

In return for Whites’ sponsorship, Sasha has agreed to help the club with PR events taking place throughout the season, including a recruitment drive for the club’s weekly £1,000 top cash-prize draw, the Striker.

Vice chairman Roger Knight said: “Sasha was one of the models helping us launch our new kit on Saturday and her mum and I got chatting.

“She was telling me all about the Miss Euroregion competition and how exciting it was getting, now that Sasha will be representing England in the grand final.

*Ppic1*”She mentioned to me that Sasha was struggling for sponsorship – and we thought that was a shame. We know how competitors of these events need sponsorship.

“And we thought it would be great to help her, seeing as she has helped us and agreed to do some more PR launches during the upcoming season.

“Also the Dover Athletic logo will be used in all PR material here in the UK for Miss Euroregion and countries involved in the event, which will include any flyers, posters, web pages, stage introductions and, of course, on Sasha’s luggage.”

Everyone connected with Dover Athletic wish Sasha all the best of luck and hope she brings the top prize back to England.

*BS*DOVER ATHLETIC have signed a cracker from Folkestone on a one-year deal.

*BF*No, it is not the return of fans’ favourite Walid Matata – but Folkestone lovely Sasha Buckingham.

Whites have agreed to sponsor Sasha, who is representing England at the Miss Euroregion competition, which will be holding its grand final in Ypres, Belgium, in October.

Sasha, who helped the club launch its 2006-2007 strip at Crabble on Saturday, is one of 10 girls in the England team taking part in the event against other European nations.

In return for Whites’ sponsorship, Sasha has agreed to help the club with PR events taking place throughout the season, including a recruitment drive for the club’s weekly £1,000 top cash-prize draw, the Striker.

Vice chairman Roger Knight said: “Sasha was one of the models helping us launch our new kit on Saturday and her mum and I got chatting.

“She was telling me all about the Miss Euroregion competition and how exciting it was getting, now that Sasha will be representing England in the grand final.

*Ppic1*”She mentioned to me that Sasha was struggling for sponsorship – and we thought that was a shame. We know how competitors of these events need sponsorship.

“And we thought it would be great to help her, seeing as she has helped us and agreed to do some more PR launches during the upcoming season.

“Also the Dover Athletic logo will be used in all PR material here in the UK for Miss Euroregion and countries involved in the event, which will include any flyers, posters, web pages, stage introductions and, of course, on Sasha’s luggage.”

Everyone connected with Dover Athletic wish Sasha all the best of luck and hope she brings the top prize back to England.

*BS*HELP Dover Athletic raise some much-needed funds by sponsoring a players’ online profile.

*BF*Last season, through the online profile sponsorships and donations, we raised more than £3,000 – which gave the club a vital cash injection for the summer months.

It enabled the club’s debts to be reduced and everyone is pulling together in a bid to clear the CVA this season.

By sponsoring a player, we are also giving two lucky fans the chance to win a pair of VIP tickets to a game. There will also be a Dover Athletic shirt up for grabs for one lucky winner.

The winner will be drawn at random and doverathletic.com’s editor’s decision will be final.

Simply donate £10 into our PayPal account via the donation button on the home page and you will be randomly allocated a first-team player. If there is a specific player you wish to sponsor, email us at info@doverathletic.com and we will do our best to make sure you get that player.

We will also give you the chance to sponsor a ladies’ player profile and reserve team profile – as part of the same competition.

So help the Whites raise funds with this annual initiative – and for all those who helped us last season a big thank you to you all.

Bradley Spice – sponsored by ROY GASKING
Byron Walker – sponsored by RICHARD PRICE
Craig Cloke – reserved for CHAMP
Craig Wilkins – sponsored by MARK WALLER
Danny Chapman – sponsored by MARK WALLER
Darren Smith – sponsored by ANDREW STROUD
Dean Readings – sponsored by ROY GASKING
Glen Knight – sponsored by STEVE BURTON
James Dryden – sponsored by SHAUN PIDDLESDEN
James Rogers – sponsored by DAVID WEBER
John Keister – sponsored by JASON McFARLANE and JESS SNELL
Lee Spiller – sponsored by DAVE, JULIE, DANIEL AND LEE BUTLER
Matt Bourne – sponsored by PIERRE VAN ROSSUM
Nicky Humphrey – sponsored by MICK EDWARDS
Sam Vallance – sponsored by JUSTIN ALLEN
Shane Hamshare – sponsored by DAVID McCULLOCH
Tom Hickman – sponsored by BETH CARE
Tommy Tyne – sponsored by PAUL LEARMONTH
Tony Browne – sponsored by DAVE, JULIE, DANIEL AND LEE BUTLER

*BS*HELP Dover Athletic raise some much-needed funds by sponsoring a players’ online profile.

*BF*Last season, through the online profile sponsorships and donations, we raised more than £3,000 – which gave the club a vital cash injection for the summer months.

It enabled the club’s debts to be reduced and everyone is pulling together in a bid to clear the CVA this season.

By sponsoring a player, we are also giving two lucky fans the chance to win a pair of VIP tickets to a game. There will also be a Dover Athletic shirt up for grabs for one lucky winner.

The winner will be drawn at random and doverathletic.com’s editor’s decision will be final.

Simply donate £10 into our PayPal account via the donation button on the home page and you will be randomly allocated a first-team player. If there is a specific player you wish to sponsor, email us at info@doverathletic.com and we will do our best to make sure you get that player.

We will also give you the chance to sponsor a ladies’ player profile and reserve team profile – as part of the same competition.

So help the Whites raise funds with this annual initiative – and for all those who helped us last season a big thank you to you all.

Bradley Spice – sponsored by ROY GASKING
Byron Walker – sponsored by RICHARD PRICE
Craig Cloke – reserved for CHAMP
Craig Wilkins – sponsored by MARK WALLER
Danny Chapman – sponsored by MARK WALLER
Darren Smith – sponsored by ANDREW STROUD
Dean Readings – sponsored by ROY GASKING
Glen Knight – sponsored by STEVE BURTON
James Dryden – sponsored by SHAUN PIDDLESDEN
James Rogers – sponsored by DAVID WEBER
John Keister – sponsored by JASON McFARLANE and JESS SNELL
Lee Spiller – sponsored by DAVE, JULIE, DANIEL AND LEE BUTLER
Matt Bourne – sponsored by PIERRE VAN ROSSUM
Nicky Humphrey – sponsored by MICK EDWARDS
Sam Vallance – sponsored by JUSTIN ALLEN
Shane Hamshare – sponsored by DAVID McCULLOCH
Tom Hickman – sponsored by BETH CARE
Tommy Tyne – sponsored by PAUL LEARMONTH
Tony Browne – sponsored by DAVE, JULIE, DANIEL AND LEE BUTLER

*BS*I’D just got back to the UK from a holiday in the Czech Republic when I heard about Barry Little’s death.

*BF*It was, probably, one of those deaths that most of us remember in some detail. I suspect a lot of DAFC fans will know exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about it.

Barry Little’s passing had been expected for some time. It was no surprise to hear about it when I got home in that late August or early September of 1994 but I spent several days walking around through a misty haze wiping the odd fleck of moisture from my eyes every now and again.

My wife never met him but she had heard a lot about him. The day after the news came through we stood, side by side, on a dark evening, staring at our images in the kitchen window, finishing the washing-up and fighting back the tears.

Barry worked with me on the Gateway Hospital Radio broadcasts for a while and I know that his sharp south London accent was a popular addition to the match commentaries.

I realised that there was something wrong with Barry some time before the diagnosis of a brain tumour was made public.

I was not entirely surprised when the information moved into the public domain.

Barry said to me once, “I don’t care where I play in a team. I just want to be out there playing football. I don’t care if it’s up front, in the middle or at the back.”

It was while he was playing either “in the middle” or “at the back” that the possibility of illness or, at the very least, of some undisclosed head injury became apparent to this match commentator.

For several weeks at least whenever Barry went up to head a long clearance back towards the opposing goal he jumped too early.

His jump carried him well ahead of the falling ball. There was never any intention for the head to make contact with the ball.

*Q1*From where I was sitting in the Crabble Press Box his tactic seemed obvious.

Amazingly (at least, to me) nobody else seemed to notice it.

Later, after Barry had finished playing, I questioned him about it wondering if I had, in fact, been imagining things.

“No,” he said, “You didn’t imagine it. It was so painful to head the ball I had to duck out. I’m amazed that no-one else seemed to notice as well.”

Barry, as his former Whites team-mate Russell Milton told me, always had an answer for everybody.

His mind was sharp; he was the street-wise south Londoner.

One evening in the 1992-93 season Dover were playing at Crawley Town in the Beazer Homes League Premier Division. The match was played on Tuesday, January 19, and was to be Dover’s first defeat of that campaign, losing 2-1 (following a 0-0 Crabble draw with Crawley earlier in the season). Barry was called up to take a corner.

“Get on with it you little tw*t,” yelled a Crawley fan, leaning over the advertising hoarding, near the corner spot.

Barry looked up with a half smile, half sneer on his face.

“Did you pay to get in here tonight?” Barry demanded of the fan.

“Course I did,” came the reply.

“Who’s the tw*t then?” sneered Barry as he settled down to take the corner.

The news that Barry had developed a brain tumour was devastating.

*Ppic1*But, typically, he faced up to the illness with the kind of courage and fortitude that characterised his football.

In one of my several visits to their house in Greenwich, June was proudly showed me the football shirts that Barry had exchanged with opposing players after his games for the England Youth team.

At that time, they were carefully folded in suitcases under Barry’s bed.

June pulled one out to let me look more closely. It was bright red and embossed on the front with the Cyrillic letters of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. There was a hammer and sickle emblem high on the chest.

“Barry played against Russia at Wembley,” said June.

“He’s got piles of these shirts tucked away,” she added as though he was still with us, sitting in the lounge, perhaps drinking coffee and reading the paper.

Barry spent many evenings and weekends, while he still could, raising money for cancer research.

One Friday evening he phoned me.

“Sorry Roger,” he said, with his typical chuckle in the background, “I can’t make the match tomorrow. I’m fundraising. There’s a fete on and I’m involved.”

*Q2*Towards the end of the 1993-94 season Barry’s memory started to weaken as the tumour took hold and it was to manager Chris Kinnear’s eternal credit that he retained Barry on the club’s playing staff until the end.

Chemotherapy had helped to retard its growth for several months but he knew that the effect of that treatment was only ever going to be short term. In the end, the tumour would win.

Several times he would start to make a critical point on air. He would bring the confidence of his tremendous football experience to bear and then, after a few moments, forgot his point or forgot the name of the player to whom he was referring.

Early on, though, he became famous for his one-liners:

“More referees bring the game into disrepute than any tw*tting player.”

“How can you play football when the tw*tting ball’s 30 feet up in the air?”

Valiantly though, he battled on.

I was abroad when the friendly matches that started the 1994-95 season began.

Predictably, Barry was at Crabble.

In the Centre Spot bar one day, former director Chris Harman asked Barry if he was looking forward to commentating on the league matches that were about to begin.

Apparently (and I have this on good authority), Barry said, “I’d love to Chris but the doctor’s told me I haven’t got very long left.”

*Lpic1*My telephone rang the day after I arrived back in the country.

It was the news that I had been expecting and fearing for some time.

I had hoped that Barry would be granted some time to see at least some of the new season but it was not to be.

For all of us who were there, the funeral was an ordeal. It was, also, a public show of support when most of the population of Greenwich turned out to bid farewell to one of its own.

Andy Stevens, a Dover fan and sports editor of the East Kent Mercury at the time, sidled up to me at the cemetery as they laid him to rest.

“Not bad away support,” muttered Andy, whose eyes were as red raw as mine must have been.

There were, at least, several hundred people crowding around the open grave with its simple but effective polished wooden cross.

Many people from Barry’s past were brought together that day.

It could only be in this context that I would ever get the chance to exchange a few words with his old Charlton Athletic manager, Alan Curbishley.

Famous names in football, too many to list, were everywhere that day. Their presence was a reminder of the talent that we had lost.

I still miss Barry Little both as a player and as the friend he became for such a brief period.

I’ve often wondered if he might be granted some time off for good behaviour to help the Whites out of their current predicament.

There are two people who, after their passing, brought a smile and a chuckle through the sadness as I remembered their witty comments. One was Brian Clough and the other was Barry Little.

Not a bad epitaph that.

God bless, Barry.

*BS*I’D just got back to the UK from a holiday in the Czech Republic when I heard about Barry Little’s death.

*BF*It was, probably, one of those deaths that most of us remember in some detail. I suspect a lot of DAFC fans will know exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about it.

Barry Little’s passing had been expected for some time. It was no surprise to hear about it when I got home in that late August or early September of 1994 but I spent several days walking around through a misty haze wiping the odd fleck of moisture from my eyes every now and again.

My wife never met him but she had heard a lot about him. The day after the news came through we stood, side by side, on a dark evening, staring at our images in the kitchen window, finishing the washing-up and fighting back the tears.

Barry worked with me on the Gateway Hospital Radio broadcasts for a while and I know that his sharp south London accent was a popular addition to the match commentaries.

I realised that there was something wrong with Barry some time before the diagnosis of a brain tumour was made public.

I was not entirely surprised when the information moved into the public domain.

Barry said to me once, “I don’t care where I play in a team. I just want to be out there playing football. I don’t care if it’s up front, in the middle or at the back.”

It was while he was playing either “in the middle” or “at the back” that the possibility of illness or, at the very least, of some undisclosed head injury became apparent to this match commentator.

For several weeks at least whenever Barry went up to head a long clearance back towards the opposing goal he jumped too early.

His jump carried him well ahead of the falling ball. There was never any intention for the head to make contact with the ball.

*Q1*From where I was sitting in the Crabble Press Box his tactic seemed obvious.

Amazingly (at least, to me) nobody else seemed to notice it.

Later, after Barry had finished playing, I questioned him about it wondering if I had, in fact, been imagining things.

“No,” he said, “You didn’t imagine it. It was so painful to head the ball I had to duck out. I’m amazed that no-one else seemed to notice as well.”

Barry, as his former Whites team-mate Russell Milton told me, always had an answer for everybody.

His mind was sharp; he was the street-wise south Londoner.

One evening in the 1992-93 season Dover were playing at Crawley Town in the Beazer Homes League Premier Division. The match was played on Tuesday, January 19, and was to be Dover’s first defeat of that campaign, losing 2-1 (following a 0-0 Crabble draw with Crawley earlier in the season). Barry was called up to take a corner.

“Get on with it you little tw*t,” yelled a Crawley fan, leaning over the advertising hoarding, near the corner spot.

Barry looked up with a half smile, half sneer on his face.

“Did you pay to get in here tonight?” Barry demanded of the fan.

“Course I did,” came the reply.

“Who’s the tw*t then?” sneered Barry as he settled down to take the corner.

The news that Barry had developed a brain tumour was devastating.

*Ppic1*But, typically, he faced up to the illness with the kind of courage and fortitude that characterised his football.

In one of my several visits to their house in Greenwich, June was proudly showed me the football shirts that Barry had exchanged with opposing players after his games for the England Youth team.

At that time, they were carefully folded in suitcases under Barry’s bed.

June pulled one out to let me look more closely. It was bright red and embossed on the front with the Cyrillic letters of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. There was a hammer and sickle emblem high on the chest.

“Barry played against Russia at Wembley,” said June.

“He’s got piles of these shirts tucked away,” she added as though he was still with us, sitting in the lounge, perhaps drinking coffee and reading the paper.

Barry spent many evenings and weekends, while he still could, raising money for cancer research.

One Friday evening he phoned me.

“Sorry Roger,” he said, with his typical chuckle in the background, “I can’t make the match tomorrow. I’m fundraising. There’s a fete on and I’m involved.”

*Q2*Towards the end of the 1993-94 season Barry’s memory started to weaken as the tumour took hold and it was to manager Chris Kinnear’s eternal credit that he retained Barry on the club’s playing staff until the end.

Chemotherapy had helped to retard its growth for several months but he knew that the effect of that treatment was only ever going to be short term. In the end, the tumour would win.

Several times he would start to make a critical point on air. He would bring the confidence of his tremendous football experience to bear and then, after a few moments, forgot his point or forgot the name of the player to whom he was referring.

Early on, though, he became famous for his one-liners:

“More referees bring the game into disrepute than any tw*tting player.”

“How can you play football when the tw*tting ball’s 30 feet up in the air?”

Valiantly though, he battled on.

I was abroad when the friendly matches that started the 1994-95 season began.

Predictably, Barry was at Crabble.

In the Centre Spot bar one day, former director Chris Harman asked Barry if he was looking forward to commentating on the league matches that were about to begin.

Apparently (and I have this on good authority), Barry said, “I’d love to Chris but the doctor’s told me I haven’t got very long left.”

*Lpic1*My telephone rang the day after I arrived back in the country.

It was the news that I had been expecting and fearing for some time.

I had hoped that Barry would be granted some time to see at least some of the new season but it was not to be.

For all of us who were there, the funeral was an ordeal. It was, also, a public show of support when most of the population of Greenwich turned out to bid farewell to one of its own.

Andy Stevens, a Dover fan and sports editor of the East Kent Mercury at the time, sidled up to me at the cemetery as they laid him to rest.

“Not bad away support,” muttered Andy, whose eyes were as red raw as mine must have been.

There were, at least, several hundred people crowding around the open grave with its simple but effective polished wooden cross.

Many people from Barry’s past were brought together that day.

It could only be in this context that I would ever get the chance to exchange a few words with his old Charlton Athletic manager, Alan Curbishley.

Famous names in football, too many to list, were everywhere that day. Their presence was a reminder of the talent that we had lost.

I still miss Barry Little both as a player and as the friend he became for such a brief period.

I’ve often wondered if he might be granted some time off for good behaviour to help the Whites out of their current predicament.

There are two people who, after their passing, brought a smile and a chuckle through the sadness as I remembered their witty comments. One was Brian Clough and the other was Barry Little.

Not a bad epitaph that.

God bless, Barry.

*BS*STEVE NOLAN has praised John Keister after the veteran midfielder gave a masterclass at Crabble on his Whites debut this week.

*BF*Keister, 35, who signed from neighbours Margate, had been playing regular Conference football only two seasons ago before the Gate were forced to drop out of non-league’s elite.

And the man that is nicknamed “The Assassin” from his days as a League player at Walsall was still very much a darling of the Hartsdown Park faithful when we snapped him up, right under the noses of many of our rivals.

Nolan said: “I thought everything he did was excellent in the 3-2 win against Gravesend on Tuesday. He was outstanding. John gives us some real quality in the middle of the park and is going to be a big, big player for us.

“His passing and tackling was top drawer and I know he cannot wait for the season to start.”

Nolan was impressed with how his side managed to hold their own against a Gravesend starting XI that play at a much higher standard than Whites.

The Fleet had a number of trialists on display, along with several regular first-teamers, but nearly every player is established at Conference level.

*Lpic1*Nolan said: “Liam Daish, the Gravesend manager, told me he only had five players missing from his squad that night. He’s giving a runout to trialists who he’s hoping to sign as they undertake their first season as a full-time club.

“Apart from the final 15 minutes when we made a lot of changes to the side, to give everyone a run-out, and their full-time training showed their better fitness, we were the better side.”

Gravesend were beaten 3-1 by Folkestone in their previous game – but Nolan has told Fleet fans: “Don’t panic. You’ll be fine this season.”

Daish is looking at several trailists and results are of little importance to the Fleet boss at this stage.

Nolan said: “It’s all about looking at players for Liam at the moment. I wouldn’t read too much into their friendly results. Once they kick-off their Conference campaign, I am sure Gravesend will be a strong outfit.”

Chris Chase, who scored twice, also came in for a rave review from the Whites No 2.

He said: “Chris was the first to arrive at the ground and he walks in with a big smile on his face. That’s the way he is. He’s such a bubbly lad and lifts everyone.

“He’s got a great attitude to training and playing. I asked him to play in a slightly different role and didn’t complain. He played wide left of our midfield but in an position where he was a third striker when we were attacking – and a fourth midfielder when we were defending. We just wanted to have a look at that.

*Q1*“Chasey did well and we’re hopeful of getting him signed up for the coming season.”

Bradley Spice’s stunning goal on his debut would have settled any nerves he may have had.

Nolan said: “He’s got a lot of pace – and it was a cracking strike. He’s not fit at the moment but did well.”

Danny Chapman did not play as a precaution. He had only two training sessions under his belt before Tuesday’s game.

Anthony Hogg also did not play as he recovers from a broken toe.

Now Whites must keep up the standard against Conference North Hinckley United on Saturday.

Steve said: “Apart from the game against Great Wakering, all our friendlies are against teams from a higher standard – so the friendlies will give our lads a proper workout.”

*BS*DOVER ATHLETIC are appealing for supporters to step forward to volunteer themselves as matchday stewards.

*BF*The club, who enjoyed an average crowd of more than 800 supporters last season, need more bodies to help Whites fulfil their high health and safety standards.

At present, the club are struggling to provide enough stewards for the size of crowds our home games attract.

Paul Harrison, the Trust’s representative on the club’s board, said: “We’re desperate for people to come forward. We really are.

“It’s vital that we get some volunteers. When you get crowds near a thousand or more, it’s important that there are stewards around the ground to assist the club with health and safety issues.

*Q1*”I urge any fan who is willing to help to get in touch with us, as a matter of some urgency.”

Supporters who volunteer to help with stewarding games will be admitted into the ground for free – and complimentary food and some refreshment will also be provided by the club.

Please contact Paul on 07970 003021 or talk to him on a matchday. Paul is the man pictured above for those of you who do not know him.

*BS*STEVE NOLAN has praised John Keister after the veteran midfielder gave a masterclass at Crabble on his Whites debut this week.

*BF*Keister, 35, who signed from neighbours Margate, had been playing regular Conference football only two seasons ago before the Gate were forced to drop out of non-league’s elite.

And the man that is nicknamed “The Assassin” from his days as a League player at Walsall was still very much a darling of the Hartsdown Park faithful when we snapped him up, right under the noses of many of our rivals.

Nolan said: “I thought everything he did was excellent in the 3-2 win against Gravesend on Tuesday. He was outstanding. John gives us some real quality in the middle of the park and is going to be a big, big player for us.

“His passing and tackling was top drawer and I know he cannot wait for the season to start.”

Nolan was impressed with how his side managed to hold their own against a Gravesend starting XI that play at a much higher standard than Whites.

The Fleet had a number of trialists on display, along with several regular first-teamers, but nearly every player is established at Conference level.

*Lpic1*Nolan said: “Liam Daish, the Gravesend manager, told me he only had five players missing from his squad that night. He’s giving a runout to trialists who he’s hoping to sign as they undertake their first season as a full-time club.

“Apart from the final 15 minutes when we made a lot of changes to the side, to give everyone a run-out, and their full-time training showed their better fitness, we were the better side.”

Gravesend were beaten 3-1 by Folkestone in their previous game – but Nolan has told Fleet fans: “Don’t panic. You’ll be fine this season.”

Daish is looking at several trailists and results are of little importance to the Fleet boss at this stage.

Nolan said: “It’s all about looking at players for Liam at the moment. I wouldn’t read too much into their friendly results. Once they kick-off their Conference campaign, I am sure Gravesend will be a strong outfit.”

Chris Chase, who scored twice, also came in for a rave review from the Whites No 2.

He said: “Chris was the first to arrive at the ground and he walks in with a big smile on his face. That’s the way he is. He’s such a bubbly lad and lifts everyone.

“He’s got a great attitude to training and playing. I asked him to play in a slightly different role and didn’t complain. He played wide left of our midfield but in an position where he was a third striker when we were attacking – and a fourth midfielder when we were defending. We just wanted to have a look at that.

*Q1*“Chasey did well and we’re hopeful of getting him signed up for the coming season.”

Bradley Spice’s stunning goal on his debut would have settled any nerves he may have had.

Nolan said: “He’s got a lot of pace – and it was a cracking strike. He’s not fit at the moment but did well.”

Danny Chapman did not play as a precaution. He had only two training sessions under his belt before Tuesday’s game.

Anthony Hogg also did not play as he recovers from a broken toe.

Now Whites must keep up the standard against Conference North Hinckley United on Saturday.

Steve said: “Apart from the game against Great Wakering, all our friendlies are against teams from a higher standard – so the friendlies will give our lads a proper workout.”