Alfreton Town assistant manager Mark Carroll believes that his side’s summer transfer business has been a success so far and hopes that their recruitment can lead to a positive start to the campaign.

The Reds have strengthened by adding six new faces ahead of this weekend’s pre-season curtain-raiser against Nottingham Forest, as well as keeping the core of last season’s squad together.

Having recently signed experienced frontman Matt Rhead and former Wrexham captain Rob Evans, Carroll says that their aim was to bring in players who added to the group and he insists that they have done just that.

He said: “The recruitment has been great so far. When you bring players into the squad, you don’t bring them in just to make up the numbers.

“You look to bring players who add to what you’ve already got and the boys we’ve brought in so far have a bit of quality.

“We needed a bit more experience as well which I think we’ve done with the recruitment. Some of them have played at this level or above, which we felt was important along with some of the younger players we’ve got at the football club.”

Whilst recruiting new faces, Alfreton have re-signed Tom Allan, Josh Wilde and Ethan Stewart, who have all previously featured for the Reds in recent years.

Talented young striker George Cowan also made the switch from Thorne Colliery to complete their off-season recruitment to date and Carroll admits that his team needed a bit more balance to compete at a higher level this time around.

He added: “We’re always looking to find a gem, so you’re always looking to get someone who goes under the radar from other people. Hopefully they’ll do well for us and possibly like all football clubs, give them a platform to go a little bit further up into the football league.

“We’re pleased with the experienced players, as we felt we needed a bit more balance in the side. We looked at last season and we just felt in a lot of the games where we were winning at least four of the games and we couldn’t see the game out.

“So, we wanted a little bit more know-how on the pitch and I believe with the players that we’ve brought in will give us that.”

Alfreton begin their pre-season campaign with a mouth-watering game against Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon ahead of a nine-match schedule in preparation for 2021/22.

This will also be the first time that the Reds can welcome supporters to The Impact Arena for 484 days and Carroll cannot wait to play in-front of their fans once again.

“It will be great to play in-front of spectators again. I think what the past 18 months has shown is that how important the supporters are; the games aren’t the same.

“We’re looking forward to playing in-front of people now. It’s just great to get back to some sort of normality and when you’re involved in a football club, it’s pivotal that we do that.

“We get together three times a week for training and playing games and when that gets taken away it’s hard. We cannot wait to get back doing it and it’ll be the same for everyone in non-league.”