Boss Paul Doswell reckons the signing of Roarie Deacon is a sign of the high-esteem that Sutton United are held in among the football fraternity.

Deacon was released by Crawley Town at the end of last season, and Doswell had been tracking the 24-year-old while he had trials at Portsmouth and Cambridge United.

The winger, a straight replacement for Tom Bolarinwa – who joined Grimsby Town last month, has League One experience having made 24 appearances in the Stevenage side relegated to League Two in 2014.

He would go on to make 30 appearances in League Two for Stevenage, before joining Crawley in 2015 and being a virtual ever-present, scoring five goals in 40 outings.

Doswell said: “I first came across Roarie when we played Crawley in a friendly, and this move has been in the background for the past three weeks.

“He was at Portsmouth and then Cambridge, so we had to be patient.

“He is very similar to Tom in that he can play on the wing, but he likes to come through the middle too, and he has League One and Two experience, which is good for us.”

He added: “Ever since Tom left, I have had many phone calls from agents wanting to get their players in here, because they have seen how we’ve done for Tom, and that is credit to the set-up here.

“They have seen how players develop, play well and then get a possible return to League football, and that is what Roarie is doing – he is happy to take a step down to get back on track with us.”

Doswell also wants a new centre forward and he has one with League One and Two experience training with the squad now.

However, for it to happen, the manager is hopeful for a push in the Boost the Budget fundraiser.

“We have stalled on around £26,000, but if we can push towards £40,000 then we’d be able to sign him,” he said.

There may be more money in the bag after this weekend’s pre-season friendly with Portsmouth.

Doswell said: “This is our biggest friendly against the Portsmouth first team, and I am expecting them to bring a lot of support.

“We’re competing for the Andrew Letts Cup, so it will go to penalties at the end of 90 minutes if it’s draw.”

He added: “We’re also donating 10 per cent of the Portsmouth takings, and passing round a collection bucket, to the fundraising effort for the Pompey fan who was attacked during Euro 2016 and is still in a coma.”

Last weekend, a first run out of the season ended in a 3-1 defeat at home to Fulham XI.

However, Doswell insisted the result after 90 minutes was irrelevant, whereas the 1-0 scoreline at half-time - thanks to Bradley Hudons-Odoi's debut strike - left him satisfied.

“We played two teams and it was two games in one,” he said.

“It was our first team in the first half and it could have been 5-0. They looked as sharp now as they did at the end of last season, which is great to see.”

He added: “In the second half there were a lot of trialists and players out of position, so we’d thrown them to the lions a bit.”