Lowestoft Town have signed Rory McAuley from Chelmsford City on a long term deal.

The Trawlerboys have long been admirers of the big defender and manager Ady Gallagher got his man last night following his release by the National League South side.

'It's been a bit crazy but we're delighted to have signed Rory,' said Gallagher, who tied up the futures of Adam Smith, Rossi Jarvis, Andrew Fisk, Chris Henderson and Shaun Bammant last week.

'It's a massive signing for us. I tried to buy him last summer and we actually went in for him again when Jack Ainsley left last year but they rejected a couple of offers.

'To get him now is a fantastic coup for us – he's a player that I've long admired.'

McAuley looks set to form a central defensive partnership alongside Michael Spillane and fills the void left by Harry Kyrpianou's exit after his loan from Southend came to an end.

'Rory and Mickey have played together before and they are good friends off the pitch which always helps,' added Gallagher referring to when the pair played together at Cambridge. 'For me they are the ultimate defensive partnership and I believe if we had managed to sign Rory last season then we wouldn't have gone down.

'It certainly gives us a strong looking defensive partnership.'

Lowestoft could also be in the market for a new goalkeeper after Ben Killip's loan spell ended and Elvijs Putnins was let go.

Jake Jessup is the only senior goalkeeper on their books at the moment and Gallagher hinted the young goalkeeper could be given his chance to stake a claim.

'It's obviously an area that we need to be strong in but there are already people at the club that could make a claim for the position,' he said.

'But I've always been a firm believer that if a player becomes available and he is the type of player we need at the club then we would be interested.'

Gallagher insisted any new signings would have to fit the right profile for the Blues – young, hungry players in the Connor Deeks mould look to be the order of the day.

'We can't pick up someone because they are a name. They have to be on their way up and show the ambition we need to bounce back from relegation,' he added.

Gallagher also knows he must change the mentality of a side that went down on the final day of last season.

'What the most important thingis for me is that we don't suffer any kind of hangover,' he said. 'We've got to get that winning mentality back – the players have to get back to the positive mindset we had in previous seasons.

'We've got to make sure that we move on from what happened last season and look forward.'