Hastings United manager’s vow over potential new signings

United are going well in the Isthmian premier division, although their play-off bid suffered a setback last Saturday with a 2-1 defeat at Carshalton.

Agutter says he is always looking for players who will improve the squad, but insists he does not want to bring in anyone who would merely be a short-term fix.

He sees his job as a longer-term project of helping the first team and the club evolve – even if that means progress might not always be immediate.

Agutter has signed key players like Tommy Penfold and Tommie Fagg since he returned to the hotseat earlier in the season.

He said: “There are one or two potential incomings – permanent signings – but I only want to bring in players who will be here longer-term, not ones we’d only have for half a season.

"We’ve got ourselves into a good positon in the league and sometimes that can make you look short-term, but I don’t want to lose sight of what we are trying to build.”

While Agutter plots a squad for the future, his immediate task is to prepare the Us for back-to-back home games which offer a chance to recover quickly from the loss at Carshalton.

Tenth-placed Hashtag United visit tomorrow and Margate, who are 18th, follow on Tuesday night.

"We always look forward to home games and haven’t had many in recent weeks,” Agutter said.

“At Carshalton they surprised us with how they played. I’ve always found them a front-foot attacking side but they sat in and set up to frustrate us. Apparently they’ve reserved that tactic for only Hornchurch and us so it’s a compliment.

"We struggled to deal with it and gave away a cheap goal from a set-piece. If we could have got to half-time one down, we’d have got something.

"But we tried to force things, got frustrated, then got done by a counter attack, so were two down.”

Davide Rodari’s 18th league goal of the season made it 2-1 but they couldn’t save a point. Agutter said: “Hopefully we came away from the game better prepared with how to deal with others who play that way.”