Herne Bay manager Ben Smith has praised club chairman Stuart Fitchie for his efforts to complete the signing of Zak Ansah.

The former Hythe striker joined Bay on last Thursday before scoring a hat-trick inside 33 minutes on his debut in Saturday's 5-0 win over Snodland Town.

With over 50 goals in under two seasons at Reachfields, does Ansah mark one of the signings of the summer?

“Time will tell on that, we believe so,” said Smith.

“The chairman has worked round the clock to get that done and as much as that's a big signing for the club it's a big statement signing for the chairman.

“He's done fantastic to get that over the line, we met Zak just after we got involved at Herne Bay so it's been an ongoing saga.

“I left it in the capable hands of the chairman because the football started again and my job is to take care of the players at the club.

“Obviously we are all ecstatic to get it over the line.”

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The 25-year-old will also continue to feature for SE Dons, with Hythe having parted ways with Ansah in May due to their reluctance to let him continue playing for the successful Sunday League side.

Smith added: “If we didn't sign him, I imagine there were probably 20 other clubs that wanted to sign him and I don't think that's an exaggeration either.

“We know what we've got, we've got a serial goalscorer.

“Any club he's been at he's scored goals and I count Arsenal in that, I know he didn't play in the first team but through the youth system.

“He just scores goals wherever he goes, it's about us now making sure we're creating the chances for him.

“We've got two players with the ability to score 25/30 plus goals in Zak and Ricky Freeman. I've then got other strikers that work hard and create opportunities, I've got a good blend.”

Smith has also confirmed that Bola Dawodu will play for Herne Bay this season after following him from Canterbury City.

He added: “He's a real hard-working lad and I've really enjoyed having him as part of my squad over the last four or five months so the natural thing was to bring him with me.”

Laurence Harvey, another of Smith's former Canterbury players, has meanwhile been named as Bay's club captain.

“He was my captain previously, he's somebody I've got a lot of respect for on and off the pitch,” explained Smith.

“He may not be the loudest leader but he leads by example and says things when they need to be said which I think is quite important.

“Some people just shout for the sake of shouting, but he's clever and the information he passes on is needed at the time. I'm delighted to have him with us.”

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Bay started their pre-season with a 1-1 draw at home to Maidstone, before recording a comfortable victory over Snodland.

They continued their preparations for the upcoming campaign on Tuesday, losing 4-0 to National League South outfit Hemel Hempstead.

Smith said: “The whole squad needs to get to grips with the system we're going to play and also develop those relationships on and off the pitch.

“It's not going to happen overnight, we've had some real good signs in the games we've played but we're still getting to grips with what we think is our best eleven or the best formation to suit the players.

“I'm not one to say 'I play this way as a manager, I play this formation', I think we're quite flexible with how we approach games.

“Things take time, but that's what we took the challenge for. We're attacking it head on.”

Bay start their Isthmian South East season away to Whyteleafe on August 17 and finish it at Sevenoaks on April 25.

They also travel to Faversham on Boxing Day before hosting Whitstable on New Year’s Day.

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