IN-demand striker Tim Sills revealed being made to feel wanted was the biggest factor in his decision to make Bashley his latest port of call.

Bash sealed a deal for the experienced Conference goal king ahead of yesterday's 2-1 win over Hampton & Richmond Borough - a pre-season friendly that marked the 33-year-old's debut.

The New Forest outfit had battled it out with Conference South club Dorchester Town for Sills's services, while Southern Premier rivals Poole Town and Weymouth had previously declared their interest.

But the former Aldershot and Torquay United frontman admitted joint-boss Stewart Kearn's influence had proved pivotal as Bash saw off the higher-ranked Magpies.

Sills, who is relocating to Dorset to take a teaching job in Poole, told the Daily Echo: “With about three weeks until the start of the season, I needed to find a club and start building up my fitness.

“Stewart spoke about the club really well and I was impressed because he worked very hard to get me down here. It is nice to be courted and he did it with real enthusiasm.

“Bashley is a nice, friendly club and I am looking forward to being part of the project here. It is in its infancy but, hopefully, it will be exciting.”

Sills was prolific in non-league's top tier with 43 goals in 96 matches for Aldershot before aiding Torquay's return to the Football League, scoring in the Gulls' 2-0 play-off success over Cambridge United at Wembley.

More recently, the Romsey-born striker has plied his trade with Basingstoke Town in the Conference South and while he admitted another shot at that level with Dorchester was tempting, Sills was adamant he had made the right move.

Sills added: “You want to be as ambitious as possible and play as high as you can but I'm not sure how ambitious Dorchester will be this year.

“They have had their budget slashed and that came across in the conversations I had with their manager Phil Simkin.

“Once I had looked at all my options, Bashley was the one where I felt most wanted and that made me keen to sign.”

Meanwhile, Bash boss Kearn couldn't hide his delight as he finally snared his number one transfer target.

“Tim is a very good player with a good pedigree,” said Kearn. “We tried to keep negotiations to ourselves but, with so many clubs interested, it inevitably went public so we were relieved to get the deal sorted out.

“Since taking over, we always said we wanted an experienced backbone to the side and, in that respect, Tim is a massive signing.”