NEWPORT County AFC will strengthen their squad again before the start of the League Two season but coach Wayne Hatswell has warned that the club will not be held to ransom by players or agents.

County have so far signed David Pipe, Robbie Willmott, Matty Dolan, Frank Nouble and Lamar Reynolds this summer.

Manager Michael Flynn, who is currently in Portugal as part of his UEFA Pro Licence studies, has said that he wants to bring in at least three more new signings.

And several trialists have featured in the pre-season friendlies so far.

Former Exiles midfielder Ben Swallow, former Cardiff City youngsters Jamie Bird and Macauley Southam, ex-Arsenal forward Sanchez Watt and strikers Jermaine Easter and Kaid Mohamed have all been given the chance to impress.

And Hatswell, in charge alongside Lennie Lawrence at Chippenham Town on Tuesday, says there will be more new arrivals at Rodney Parade before the first game of the season at Stevenage on August 5.

But the Exiles coaching team know that the club’s playing budget has to be spent wisely.

“At the moment it’s challenging because players and agents are getting worried but they’ve got to realise that Newport are where we are,” said Hatswell.

“We’re not going to be able to offer thousands and thousands of pounds to players.

“We’ve got to get the right person in and with the new signings so far they’ve come in and really hit the ground running, which is good.

“We want somebody who’s going to be the right kind of character and going to be able to hit the ground running.

“There will be additions,” he added. “We’ve got room for that and we’re working as hard as we can at the moment.

“We’ve had a couple of disappointments behind the scenes but we’ve gained a lot of positives out of that from the club as well.

“And we’re just going to keep going and hopefully add a few more.”

Speaking before last night’s friendly in Merthyr, when more trialists turned out for the Exiles, Hatswell said: “The trialists have impressed. We had nearly 30 players in at one point before the Undy game and it’s always tough to try to look after everybody.

“But we’ll do the right things by the trialists. We’ll give them enough opportunities to impress and some are doing that.

“They’ve got to be fit and they will be under our regime.

“We’ll give them a platform to impress and it’s up to them at the end of the day.”