King's Lynn joint boss Gary Setchell believes newly-acquired central defensive pairing Paul Cousins and Stuart Wall will be the best in the UCL next season.

Cousins has severed his ties with hometown club Wisbech whilst Wall drops down from step three football at Bedford to bolster Town's title push.

Setchell admitted the double signing will address one of the key factors behind Lynn's near miss in their inaugural league season, where they finished two points behind champions St Neots.

'Sometimes you need steel, you have to man up and that is where we lost the league,' he said. 'Our away record compared with St Neots said it all. They didn't lose a game, we only won about 60% of ours. That is something we have to work on. Home games are not a problem for us at this level, so it isn't about bringing in pretty footballers. It's about bringing in some steel. We probably got caught out by UCL football where some of grounds and pitches were poor. 'Stuart is a big, rough, tough defender but he can play as well. He is a major signing for us and with Cousi they should be as good a partnership as you can get in the UCL. I had a brilliant relationship with him when I was at Wisbech and I've always kept in contact with him. We've left him tickets for one or two of our games and he came to the Carrow Road final. He is a winner. I didn't think we could get him. I just said, 'do you fancy it?' and he said he'd had a taste of winning things now and he wants some more.'

Town's management started this week with the successful capture of Wisbech's highly-rated young midfielder Callum Reed, but Setchell dispelled the myth Lynn's financial muscle is the primary factor.

'We have got a budget which is better than last year - but not much better,' he said. 'To bring the quality we want to bring in we still have to move out lads and use those good youngsters in the squad to balance it out. We have been told we can't go over the budget. We have to lose four or five to maybe bring in the four we want here. We have to make sure the pennies match up.

'Some of our youngsters are good enough to play in the UCL in the right games. You can throw one or two in alongside the other senior boys. The problem comes when you have big, established players on the bench who are not playing which is what hurts your budget.'

Lynn's twin bosses have now targeted another frontman to bolster their attacking options for an assault on the UCL Premier Division and FA Vase. Setchell confirmed in addition to the new recruits and five contracted players skipper Jack Defty, Robbie Harris, Dan Buhlemann and Danny White have indicated they wish to return. Talks are planned with Chris Bacon, Steve Spriggs and Jamie Alsop.