NEWPORT County AFC boss Terry Butcher wants to more signings in place before the Exiles kick off their campaign at Cambridge on August 8, the Argus can reveal.

County’s pre-season preparations are taken to another level this Sunday when Championship side Queens Park Rangers travel to Rodney Parade.

And though boss Butcher is still running the rule over Bulgarian winger Branimir Kostadinov, he is targeting reinforcements elsewhere in his squad, with a central defender and a central midfielder his principle targets.

Butcher believes that with more refinement to increase the options in the spine of his side, the Exiles will be well equipped for an assault on League Two.

“We have strength in certain areas more than others, with the injuries we have and the shape of the squad, we feel like there is more work to be done,” he told the Argus.

“We need more strength in the midfield and we are looking at bringing in a central defender and a central midfielder.

“It’s absolutely fair to say we are still looking to address the spine of the side.

“Andrew Hughes can play in central defence, but it will probably be October before we see him, so we are looking at ideally, two more key players to come in.

“We’ve issued the squad numbers now and there are still a couple of numbers free for new signings.

“Ideally a central defender and midfielder, that would be fantastic.

“We know we have a very small squad with four 17-year olds in our ranks, but they have boosted us nicely and it was nice to do the squad photo with plenty of players.

“When we arrived it looked like it would be a very small picture and that we’d only need about four chairs!”

The former England captain also delivered some exciting news for County supporters on the injury front.

The Exiles have had a torrid time of things in pre-season with their casualty list reaching double figures, but Butcher believes the worst is behind them.

“Other than Andrew Hughes, we don’t have a single player I would rule out for the start of the season,” he said.

“We may have players missing on Sunday, but we’ve been aiming for having everyone available for August 8, then it has been a good pre-season. And we are bang on course for that.”

Butcher is extremely excited about the young academy graduates who are part of his squad.

Regan Poole, Kieran Parselle, Aaron Collins and Tom Owen-Evans were all expected to be part of the first team group this term, but other players have also caught Butcher’s eye, including Lewis Bamford, Dafydd Jones and Corey Shephard.

“The youngsters have really done marvellously well, Lewi Bamford has been a real find, and he is improving all the time playing alongside the first team.

“And Regan Poole is 17 but seems more like 27 with the experience he has. We feel we have quality in the squad now.”