NEW Swindon Supermarine manager Dave Webb wants to tie key members of last season’s squad down to new deals at the club having seen what they can do in their opening pre-season friendly against Wantage.

Goals from new boy TJ Bohane and Ash Edenborough saw the Division One South & West outfit claw their way back to salvage a 2-2 draw, after a Rob Dean own goal saw them slip behind early on.

The new boss fielded a mixture of old and new faces for the game, and with the likes of Edenborough, Dave Bampton and Danny Allen yet to put pen to paper on fresh contracts, Webb is now keen to tie them down to deals having been impressed with their performance.

“It was the first work-out for a lot of our players and they hadn’t played together before, so overall I am very pleased,” he said.

“We used 18 players in total, so it was good to see what they were capable of for the first time and I think we have the makings of a great squad.

“The key thing for me now is to sort out the players who were with Supermarine last year, because clearly they have a lot of quality and seeing them play for the first time emphasised that really.

“The challenge for us now is to convince them to stay and get them signed on, because they could be very important to us.

“Kyle Lapham captained the team and I had not seen much of him before, but he is an excellent player.”

If Webb can get the players he wants signed on, he is confident the club’s pre-season programme will prepare them for the coming season.

“Players need to get to know each other, and we as coaches need to get to know them, and pre-season is very important for that.

“It takes a bit of time to gel, but the reaction we have had from the players has been first class so far and that is very pleasing.

“It is good to have got our first friendly out of the way, and now we move on and play Shrivenham which will be a good test.”

Shrivvy were due to open their own pre-season programme against Calne on Saturday, but the game fell victim to the weather.