by Luke Cawdell

Former Margate midfielder Danny Stubbs will be among the trialists aiming to make a big impression when Maidstone open their pre-season campaign against Accrington Stanley on Saturday.

The Stones play their first game at their new Homelands base in Ashford against the League 2 side and joint-boss Lloyd Hume (pictured) is looking forward to the challenge.

Hume said: "John Coleman (the Accrington manager) is a good mate of mine and although the first games are all about fitness neither of us will want to lose so.

"The Accrington game will be tough but they’ve just been to an army boot camp and hopefully they’ll arrive here worn out!

"We’ve got a few trialists that we’re looking at and hopefully they will be involved in the next couple of games.

"Danny Stubbs is training with us at the moment and he’s done well in pre-season and we’re waiting to see him perform in the matches now.

"We do need to build the squad up. We need three or four squad players and hopefully we’ll be looking to have finalised something in the next 10 days."

Saturday’s match will be the first taste of Homelands for the Maidstone fans and Hume is looking forward to making the Ashford base their home.