by Alex Hoad

Sittingbourne caretaker manager Joe Dowley said he is hopeful he can keep his squad together, despite interest in several players from former boss Richard Brady.

Dowley also revealed his first-team coach Bryan Glover has asked his day-to-day employers West Ham about the possibility of getting academy scholars on loan at the Brickies in the event that they do lose key players to Brady’s new-club Leatherhead.

Dowley said: "I’m not sure West Ham let their scholars out until a bit nearer to Christmas, so we’ll wait and see.

"I have spoken to Brades a lot recently and he has a job to do at Leatherhead. There are players he’d like to take, but we want to keep them if possible."

Skipper Billy Manners and Colin Richmond are two of four players understood to be on Brady’s radar. However, Dowley added: "We have spoken to them and we are hopeful they might stay on."

Bourne host Northwood in the FA Trophy preliminary round on Saturday, and Dowley admitted: "We don’t know much about them, but I’m sure if we play like we did on Tuesday (at Whitstable) we’ll have enough to beat any team at our level."