Kidderminster manager Mark Yates knows he needs at least six more players for the Harriers’ assault on the Blue Square Premier next season.

The squad reported back for pre-season training last week a little thin on the ground numbers wise, with just 12 contracted players on the books.

As seems to be commonplace for clubs in the spectrum, a number of trialists will fill the void, hoping to convince Yates and his assistant Neil Howarth they are worth a deal.

One or two seem to have done enough to catch the eye and, with the club beginning their pre-season fixture list at Blue Square South outfit Redditch United on Saturday, they are likely to get a fixture clogged fortnight to impress.

A trip to Redditch predeces the visit of promoted League One side Hereford to Aggborough on Monday, with Paul Sturrock’s Plymouth of the Championship the visitors a week on Friday.

For Yates, these early fixtures represent a good chance to gage exactly what he needs to make up the squad.

He said: “I’m looking to have something between 18 and 20, depending on what the budget allows.

“19 would be an ideal number for me, of course you’d like more but I’d rather have quality over quantity.

“19 will do, what we want is players to give good competition for places.

“We’ve got the nucleus of a decent side but we have to add to that with some more quality. We know that and we will be aiming to do that over the next couple of weeks.”

“There are still a lot of good players out there but things are fairly quiet.

“We’re still looking at a few decent players and we’re hopeful of bringing in the best we possibly can.”