Dereham Town boss Matt Henman is hoping to reap the rewards of his frenetic start to his summer, writes Gavin Caney.

The Magpies' manager has been a major player in the transfer market already with a host of moves across the non-league pyramid involving his Ryman North outfit. But Henman expects to play a less significant role in the weeks to come now most of his work has been completed.

The Magpies' manager said: 'I'd say the squad is 90c there. There's one or two others we're talking to but they can be done through pre-season. It's pretty rare for us to be this far advanced but I don't want to be messing around in pre-season.

If good players become available then of course we'll take a look. But we were keen to start pre-season with a settled squad and to get everyone bedded in.

'There's been quite a few changes so we wanted to get people in, work on them and the team spirit as early as possible, rather than trying to do our business once we'd started training properly and playing friendlies.'

The departures of Ryan Hawkins, Michael Clunan, Adam Smith, Kyle Downes and Matt Hockley – who is leaving the area – have forced Dereham to get their business done early. Henman has responded by signing striker Ryan Crisp as well as midfielders Dawid Radomski, Dion Frary and Anglian Combination League talents Jake Anema and Rhys Logan.

Henman added: 'We had Ryan on loan last season so he was always a target. Dawid was someone we looked at last term and once he became available we jumped at the chance. He's a top midfielder and helps fill the gap left by Michael and Adam.

'The guys from a lower level have outstanding potential. All three (Dion, Jake and Rhys), for different reasons, have been playing under the level they're capable of playing at.

'Dion did really well at Fakenham and is the outstanding under-18 in the area. Rhys is a winger who has been getting rave reviews and three or four other managers were pushing to sign him. Jake's versatile and is comfortably good enough to play at our level regularly.'