Manager Danny Searle is delighted with his Ebbsfleet squad's healthy competition for places.

After retaining 13 players from last season, the Fleet boss has now added eight new faces after landing former Colchester and Crawley defender Tom Dallison.

With experienced National League players among those recruited, it means no-one is guaranteed their spot for the opener at Gateshead on August 10.

But with five out of seven named substitutes allowed to be used in league games this season, Searle believes everyone will get an opportunity in some shape or form.

“The good thing for me is these lads are putting names in the hat and saying I want to be a starter,” he said.

“But there’s also times when you need to be a finisher and that’s the way football works.

“If we could go through a season with everyone in form and no injuries we’d only sign 11 players and wouldn’t worry about the bench.

“From our perspective, long may that competition continue and I can’t stress enough that it is healthy competition.

“The camaraderie in the group, they’re not thinking ‘he’s in my place and I don’t rate him as he’s not very good’.

“We’ve got healthy competition, the lads are stepping up to the plate.

“We’ve tried to recruit players that you’re looking over your shoulder if you were here last year, thinking I need to perform not just in games but every day in training and make sure I’m doing everything right off the field as well.

“We’re quite fortunate we’ve got a very professional group, we made sure we retained the players that fit our philosophy and culture and we’ve recruited boys you can see have blended in quite quickly. It’s early days but it’s a good start.”

The players that remain from last season impressed under Searle’s leadership. For many, it marked a significant improvement from the levels they were hitting under former boss Dennis Kutrieb.

“I don’t mean this with any disrespect but I think they (went up a level) when I came in,” added Searle.

“I’ve got my standards and things that are important to me like every manager has, for me there were non-negotiables that needed attention.

“Part of that is work ethic, gym, recovery, prehab, all the bits that need to be put in place. People think that gym is about being strong - it’s not.

“It’s about injury prevention and being robust, being able to play 15 games in a row in a team where historically there was squad rotation. Some of those lads probably wouldn’t have played 15 games in a row.

“I don’t do build-ups, everyone says what kind of day is it? Is it a light day? No. Every day is a hard-working day, we just might shorten the time of the session but when you’re in it, you’re at it. That’s how it works.”