WITHAM Town's new manager Mark Ashford says he has been pleased with the responses he has received from players as he builds his first squad at the Village Glass Stadium.

While there have been inevitable departures of a few members of last year's side, with goalkeeper Bobby Mason, Elliott Ronto and Chinedu Osadebe following previous boss Adam Flint to Bishop's Stortford, Ashford is enthused by talks with other players who were at the club last year.

Flint's side finished 11th in Bostik League division north and now Ashford has taken the helm, he is looking to build further on that success.

He said players can be formally registered from the start of next month but he has been pleased with what he has heard in early discussions with members of Witham's squad.

"It's been barely a week since my appointment, but I've had some good exchanges with the group so far," said the Town boss.

"There are players who have shown an interest in staying and I've been pleased with what I've heard.

"We have been busy and there has been a lot of interest, but unless players are placed on contract - and we're not in a position to be doing that - you can't officially register someone until the start of July.

"It's still early days but I'm happy with what we have done so far.

"I've been pleased with the responses I've had from the group; they like what we've been saying about how we want to play and the footballing philosophy we have and they are looking forward to getting going.

"I know a lot of players in local non-league football and I've also had a lot of interest from new people wanting to play for us, so we'll have to have a look at what we can do with the budget we have and the players who return from last year."

Ashford added that, having made a big impact at Witham last year, midfielder Correy Davidson had earned himself a pre-season trial with a Vanarama National League side.

Meanwhile, the Witham boss said he was still finalising his team's pre-season fixture list, but one game that was likely to be played ahead of the start of the Bostik League season in August was a meeting with Heybridge Swifts in the Tolleshunt D'Arcy Cup.

Ashford was assistant manager at Swifts before taking the main job at Witham and he was looking forward to facing his former club.

He added: "It was perhaps inevitable that we'd draw Heybridge Swifts in the Tolleshunt D'Arcy Cup and it's a game that we'll probably look to play before the season starts as they want it played.

"That's not a bad thing as it will give us a competitive edge in pre-season and it will give me a chance to look at some of the younger players at the club when league points aren't at stake."