Halstead Town manager Mark Benterman is looking forward to having a dilemma this season.

The Humbugs boss is delighted to have both Joe Fowler and Jack Cherry competing for the goalkeeping berth this year in Thurlow Nunn League Division One and he is anticipating the two pushing each other hard to be Town’s number one.

“It will be an interesting battle during the season,” said Benterman.

“With Tom (Spenser) going, we knew the goalkeeper was a position we would need to look at and we took our time, worked very hard and feel we’ve done well to get Joe over the line.

“Jack has also trained with us in pre-season and now Joe’s come in, we have two quality goalkeepers.

“We know what Jack offers and when Joe popped up, we looked at what he brought to the table and felt it wouldn’t be right not to speak to him.

“It will give me a dilemma but it’s good for the club.

“Joe played for us in pre-season two or three years ago and he’s a fantastic character.

“It’s important to add good characters to the group and he has fitted in straight away.

“It isn’t a question of what he brings on the pitch, but what he brings off the field and we found it very appealing what we saw as he can add real quality to the group.

“Jack had five months out with injury last year so he’s going to take a bit of time to get back to his full potential, but he’s training hard in pre-season and we know what he’s about.”

There have also been other recent additions made by Benterman, with right-back Pete Davies joining from Saffron Waldon and winger Josh Fitzsimmons coming in from West Bergholt.

However, keeping the majority of last year’s squad together has been a huge positive for Benterman and he feels it has put them on the front foot in their pre-season preparations.

Benterman added: “We’ve kept 80 per cent of last year’s squad and that’s helped us be about three or four weeks ahead of where we’d normally be at this time.

“They have all come back fit and sharp and we’re just having to rein them in at the moment because there is still a way to go.

“So we will keep working hard with good core values and will be ready at the right time.”

That time will come on July 30 when Halstead will start their push for promotion to the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division with a trip to Needham Market.

The Humbugs requested an early start to their league campaign to avoid a game in the FA Cup being their first competitive outing.

“We asked for that league game because we have the FA Cup on August 6 and that’s a big game for us as there is a lot of prize money at stake,” said Benterman.

“We didn’t want to go into it on the back of just pre-season so we were pleased to get a couple of league games.

“We have two home games - against Needham Market on the Saturday (July 30) and then Sudbury on the Tuesday - so we’ll have two competitive games to prepare for the FA Cup game and we couldn’t have asked for more than that.”