Dartford manager Tony Burman has told KSN how former Gillingham defender Tony Sinclair is just one of the potential signings for the new campaign.

Sinclair played the first half for The Darts against his former side on Saturday afternoon after being released by Lincoln City at the end of last season.

The former Welling United and Maidstone United defender is just one of the options Burman is looking at for the forthcoming season, but admits he is happy with the majority of his current squad to play the in the Conference Premier League:

“Tony’s been training with us all pre-season. He’s got one or two things he’s looking at, but he’s come in to help us out and we’ll see what heppens.”

“I’m delighted that I’ve signed thirteen players from last year that want to give it a go and I want to give them their chance. I think some of them are definitely going to be good enough to play in that league and if they can get it together, I’ve got the nucleus of a good squad.”

“That’s why I haven’t had to go out and sign just anybody. I know who I want and I’ve spoken to a few players, I never thought I’d even be sitting in the same room with some of them, but they have come in, shown us the respect and we’ve put deals to them.”

“Some have gone to other clubs, some haven’t and they know where we are now, so if anything changes I’m sure they will come back to us.”

Dartford were edged out by Gillingham at the weekend in the 1-0 defeat at Princes Park with Ben Strevens scoring for the visitors in the 73rd minute.

For Burman, the result wasn’t the issue and it was all about fitness for his squad, but did admit his side could have done better with the goal:

“I think it was a decent game for pre-season. I was grateful that Gillingham came down to play us and it was a great workout for us, playing a side that is full-time.”

“Pre-season is all about building up your fitness and we’ve been working on our organisation.”

“We gave Gillingham a run for their money, but at the end of the day, all I’m worried about is the players have a good run and getting their fitness levels up.”

“I think it started from our free kick in Gillingham’s half and they have gone down our end and scored. That’s where the organisation should kick in and that’s where we made the mistake.”

“You learn from your mistakes though and we’ve got to try and stop that happening again.”

Dartford will go into the new season as they did last season, on a part-time basis, competing against sides with much larger budgets.

To succeed, they will need to pull off results at home and on the road, but for Burman, he’d be more than happy with mid tabel obscurity if it were offered to him now:

“I think you have to be honest and we know that we want to stay in this league and get stronger. We need to build the foundations every year, although we know things are going to be tough.”

“We’re going to be up for that challenge and our team will work hard. We know we’ve got to add that little bit of quality and it can’t be just done on hard work.”

“It’s going to be a learning curve, but we’re going to do our best to upset as many of the sides in the league as possible.”

Next up for Dartford is the visit of a West Ham XI to Princes Park on Tuesday night with Leyton Orient expected to send their first team down on Saturday.

They’ll then face an Arsenal XI at Princes Park on Saturday 1st August before finishing their pre-season campaign with a trip to the Longmead Stadium on Saturday 4th August to play Tonbridge Angels.

All four fixtures look to be mouth-watering prospects and Burman told KSN how he was happy his squad would be playing against such good sides ahead of the new season:

“It’s fantastic that they are sending teams to us, but for me it is all about getting us sharp. I think about 50 – 60% of the teams we will be facing this season are going to be full-time, so we will need to be fit and organised and these games will give us the chance to get there.”

For more on Dartford Football Club, visit the club’s official website – www.dartfordfconline.com