JOINT-boss Stewart Kearn confirmed he is chasing the signatures of goalkeeper Nic Jones, winger Charlie Knight and fans’ favourite Dave Allen as he shapes his Bashley squad.

All three featured for the New Forest outfit in their opening pre-season match, a 3-0 defeat to Cherries’ development squad in Paul Gazzard’s testimonial on Wednesday night.

Jones, who lined-up for Bournemouth Poppies last season, pulled of a string of fine saves against Cherries, persuading veteran keeper Kearn to offer the former Poole stopper a deal.

And the newly-appointed Bash chief hopes to table terms for Allen, who is recovering from a broken foot picked up while with AFC Totton last season, while trying to hold onto Knight.

Kearn told the Daily Echo: “We are looking to sign Nic. We had talks after the Bournemouth game and we are close to sorting something out.

“We have to look at our budget and see what we can do but we’re not a million miles away.

“Dave is an interesting one. He missed a lot of last season but is looking to get himself fit and sharp again.

“He’s just started a new job as well, but he’s a player that would add quality to our team and someone we would like to bring in.

“We know all about Charlie’s qualities and hopefully we can sort something out there too. We’re holding conversations with all three lads and we’ll just have to see what develops.”

Meanwhile, Kearn was pleased with his side’s first showing against Cherries and said all of the trialists on show would get another chance to impress.

Full-back Bradley Morris, Verwood Town striker Jack Satterley, ex-Cherries youngster Alex Moth and Sam Boultwood are expected to feature against Brockenhurst tomorrow.

“We want to see a bit more of all of them before we make any decisions,” added Kearn.

“There are no firm developments but nobody did their case any harm. I thought we played very well against a fit side and we want to see more of them against a few other teams.”