Whitstable Town manager Lloyd Blackman has welcomed three new additions to his squad following successful trial periods in pre-season.

Liam Gillies has arrived at the Belmont having previously been at Dartford, while Alex Anderson and Liam Dickson have also joined the Oystermen.

Blackman is now keen to introduce one or two more signings as he finalises his team in time for Whitstable's season opener at home to Sittingbourne on August 17.

"Liam Gillies has signed after coming down, he's an excellent young central midfielder, full of energy and a real asset to the group," said Blackman.

"He's been exceptional since we've had him and everyone has been pleased with him.

"Alex is a strong winger, he comes with a lot of pedigree. He's another work in progress, his quality is in his attributes.

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"His attributes are something that really can be developed and worked with. He's big, strong, quick, there's just a couple of things we need to work on with decision-making.

"He was a youngster at Arsenal and has had a disrupted year or two due to other reasons, he came down and he's been brilliant and really bought into the group.

"I'm going to keep an eye on everything that is going on. If there are players that are available that will improve us then great."

Starting spots are now up for grabs as Blackman looks to add the finishing touches over the latter stages of pre-season.

He added: "We've had two very tough tests. Against Cray Wanderers (who beat Whitstable 5-1) we know the pedigree and the quality they've got, I think they will be an exceptional team in the Premier Division.

"Then we played Folkestone the other day (losing 3-1) and besides a couple of mistakes probably made the score-lines in both games look heavier than they were.

"There were individual mistakes but that's what pre-season is about, I'm not too concerned about those.

"We've got three weeks left now and we've said from a mistakes point of view that those are the things the players now need to start to rectify individually and make sure we eliminate.

"Against two tough opponents like we've faced I've been pleased with the progress.

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"I certainly didn't want to be playing whipping boys, I wanted to be in a position where we're challenging and where I can highlight the areas we need to work on and the players have been really receptive to that.

"Something that's typical in pre-season, we've also had five or six players missing in each game for one reason or another.

"I know a lot of clubs have that but it is a little bit frustrating, you aren't able to work with a consistent side.

"Now I've told the players that they're playing for shirts come August.

"Now it's a case of us working continuously to top up those levels of fitness, but also making sure that the players know they're playing for their shirts."

Whitstable are due to host Essex side Bowers & Pitsea on Sunday.

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