by Craig Tucker

Scott Porter says his Hythe Town side must increase their fitness levels by "10 or 15 per cent" if they want to challenge for promotion.

Town launch their pre-season campaign against Conference South team Eastbourne Borough at Reachfields on Saturday and after working hard on the training ground, boss Porter (pictured) wants to see results.

He said: "Eastbourne is a tough start but it’ll show me how far we’ve come in the three weeks we’ve been training.

"We need to get our fitness levels up 10 or 15 per cent on last season.

"Being new to the league, nobody knew much about us. We like to get in teams’ faces and be hard to break down but everyone knows that now so we’ve got to react.

"That’s why we’ve been down the beach working on our fitness as well as playing football."

Porter will give chances to a couple of trialists against Borough but will have his squad down to 18 by the time Town kick off the Ryman League Division 1 South season at Walton Casuals on August 18.

The boss said: "We had 21 players last season but we’ve got more quality than quantity now.

"A lot of players can play in two or three positions so there will still be plenty of competition for places, which can only be a good thing.

"I had that in mind with the players I’ve brought in. Craig Cloke can play in midfield as well as centre-half and Jake Hobbs can play wide and through the middle."

Do you think improved fitness will help Hythe prosper? Have your say below.