Paddy Davitt King's Lynn chairman Ken Bobbins yesterday revealed the Linnets are tracking fresh Blue Square Premier reinforcements. Bobbins confirmed Lynn chief Keith Webb is poised to step up his bid to bolster the club's Blue Square North play-off push after talks following Saturday's FA Trophy win over Stafford.

Paddy Davitt

King's Lynn chairman Ken Bobbins yesterday revealed the Linnets are tracking fresh Blue Square Premier reinforcements.

Bobbins confirmed Lynn chief Keith Webb is poised to step up his bid to bolster the club's Blue Square North play-off push after talks following Saturday's FA Trophy win over Stafford.

Highly-rated Blue Square Premier defenders Luke Graham and Rangers' match winner Bradley Thomas are already on loan at The Walks until the New Year.

And Bobbins is confident Webb could now have fresh blood at his disposal before Lynn's trip to Blue Square North rivals Workington in the first round proper on December 13.

"Keith has been given a remit to try and strengthen the squad," said Bobbins. "Hopefully we can add maybe two more players because we are committed to taking this thing further. We brought in two quality defenders when Mark Peters picked up a long term injury. They're on decent wages but that is the level we are looking at again. At the risk of stating the obvious it's whether we can pay those sorts of wages to attract players to our neck of the woods.

"Keith has identified other areas of the team and if we can afford to do it we will. Having said that, if we had won at Gateshead recently we would've gone sixth or seventh. Apart from Tamworth and Southport the rest of the teams seem capable of beating everyone else so we want to give it our best shot."

Bobbins hinted the club is in the market for fresh firepower - even after high profile summer recruit Julian Joachim notched his fourth goal in the last five outings against Stafford.

"I think we are very close to being really competitive," said Bobbins. "Tamworth look nailed on but when we played them they were definitely on the back foot towards the end of the game.

"That has been our season really - creating plenty of chances. We need to find someone to put it in the back of the net, a prolific scorer, and these are the hardest players to try and attract.

"Julian seems to be forging a partnership with Michael Frew at the minute. It took time but he needed to adjust. Coming out of full time football to perhaps seeing the lads only two or three times a week is difficult and will all due respect he had been playing with better players."

Bobbins insists a potential FA Trophy run is not a distraction - despite the prospect of a 1,000 mile round trip with Lynn due to travel to Cumbria in the league just seven days before their cup date.

"It could've been better but it could also have been worse," he said. "They are beatable and we could've got harder teams in the draw. If the lads can do a job I see no reason we can't progress. I'd very much like a run in this competition. It's the non league FA Cup if you like and both finals end up at the same venue. With a bit of luck here and there you can go a long way in it.

"It's even more important we win because we will end up out of pocket when you take into account the expenses and the fact they don't attract big gates. The nightmare scenario for us is if we go up on the Friday before the cup game again and with the weather as it is right now that's called off. We then face the prospect of going back up on the following Tuesday."

In other notable ties, Wrexham host Mansfield in a clash of two former Football League clubs while Histon welcome neighbours Cambridge United for the third consecutive year in the competition. Winning clubs receive £5,000 in prize money.

Read Mark Hearle's latest exclusive behind-the-scenes column this Thursday on edp24.co.uk/kingslynn

Ex-Lynn, Wisbech and Norwich City youth team keeper Duncan Roberts has been forced to retire from the game with a knee injury. The 29-year-old had played for Welsh Premier outfit Llanelli since 2005 after moving to South Wales to set up his own business.