Dorchester Sports sign Josh Camp and ’95 per cent’ of squad

At the time of writing, James has so far confirmed goalkeeper Nick Hutchings, striker Alex Godfrey and left-back Liam O’Shaughnessy as committing for 2023/24.

Sports had to rebuild after a difficult early part of the season in which they lost four key signings, including Jamie Beasley and Kyle Critchell, the latter going on to manage Portland United.

He told Echosport: “The main aim was to keep the squad together, it’s one of the best groups we’ve had for a long time.

READ MORE: Elliot Rossiter exits Dorchester Sports for Portland United

“Luckily, we’ve probably kept 95 per cent of the squad from last year.

“We knew a lot of them were going to get phone calls and they did, so we’re thrilled a lot of them have turned other teams down, which is positive.

“At the moment, the only player we’ve lost is Elliot Rossiter and, to my knowledge, there’s only one other player who’s not yet decided.”

The player mulling over his options is understood to be Jack Steele, although the right-back has not explicitly expressed a desire to leave.

It means James is now fully focused on bringing fresh blood to his squad.

He has added forward Josh Camp to the ranks, following his decision to leave Portland United Reserves.

Camp, a relative of former Bournemouth, Weymouth and Dorchester star Brennan Camp, scored 13 goals in 26 games in 2022/23.

His efforts helped Portland to 13th in the Dorset Premier League table, six spots below Sports.

And James revealed his satisfaction at finally luring Camp to the Avenue Stadium after a long-term pursuit.

“Josh is a brilliant signing,” James said.

“We’ve been looking at him for a couple of years and he’s always played really well against us.

“A lot of our lads are at that age now and know Josh. He’s going to fit in perfectly and do really well for us.

“He’s someone we’ve been keen to get over for a while and this seemed like the year to push it on.

“Luckily, he said yes and we’ve got it over the line. We’re looking forward to him coming to training and going into next season.”

James added: “We put our project over to him and he was really keen on it, couldn’t wait to sign.

“He was happy to come in, have a chat with us and sign. It’s really positive players of his calibre are wanting to come over and hopefully he can do well for us.”

However, James admitted he will be playing pre-season more coyly as he expects triallists to come in.

“We’re going to do it a little bit different this year,” James confessed.

“We’re going to have a little look at players before we finalise it. Last year we got it a little wrong.

“Considering the four players that signed, only Ryan Dovell finished the season with us.

“We’ve got to be 100 per cent sure. On July 3rd we start training. We’ve got six or seven exciting lads coming and we’ve got to make a decision, then we’ll go from there.

“They haven’t played for the club before so we’ll see whether they enjoy it. I’m sure it will be a no-brainer and they’ll put pen to paper.