MARK Jermyn is hopeful Dorchester Town can find another Jonah Ayunga as they step up their search for new players for next season.

The teenage striker was one of the stars of the campaign as he scored eight goals in 27 appearances before moving to Brighton & Hove Albion in January on a two-year deal.

With that such a success story for both player and club, Jermyn wants to bring in more youthful prospects.

The young striker had only been part of the first squad since the start of the last campaign and the manager feels his move was one of the highlights of the season.

He told Echosport: “Identifying a young player and selling him and making a considerable amount of money of him was a stand-out highlight.

“We did well with that and next year we will try and do the same again.”

Jermyn’s transfer dealings have already started and the manager already has a shortlist of more than 40 players on his

radar.

“We will look at bringing in a bit more nous like we have in the second half of the season.

“We have around 40 players that we would like to speak to and we will see where we can go from there.

“With the budget we work towards and our location, it means we have to cast our nest so wide.

“It’s not about just picking up the phone and saying: ‘we’re Dorchester Town’.

“We’re not at that level anymore and we’re looking to build towards the future with a younger group that is improving.”

Despite the long list Jermyn is keen to keep many of the current playing squad together as he looks to improve on last season’s mid-table finish.

“We want to keep as many as we want to keep, if that makes sense.

“We want to move forward and that means not keeping all of the squad together.

“We’ve had conversations with a few players about staying and these talks will carry on in a couple of weeks.

“We have to move and show progression like we have this season, otherwise it will be a failure.”