TIVERTON Town boss Chris Vinnicombe is looking to form a settled squad of 16 before the new Southern League season begins.

The former Exeter City defender is placing an emphasis on developing a small, close-knit group of players rather than making a host of signings 'to fill holes'.

Vinnicombe says he wants to avoid the example of ex-Tivvy chief Martyn Rogers, who changed his line-up regularly last term. The Yellows manager will start to finalise his 16 after the club's first pre-season friendly against the Royal Marines, a week on Saturday.

And if he can get the balance right, Vinnicombe believes Tiverton can successfully avoid another year of battling against relegation.

"I want a squad of 16," he said. "I want to try to get a tight-knit squad with everyone playing for each other.

"You look at the number of players Martyn used last year and it was 60-odd. I'm trying to change that so that players will play together and gel together.

"It's better to do that than sign players willy-nilly just to fill holes.

"I said to (assistant manager) Mark (Saunders) I want to get a squad of players together that will be together for the whole season.

"If you haven't got that level of consistency or camaraderie between the players, generally you won't perform as well.

"We want to get that level of consistency where everybody knows everybody and you're not changing things all the time. The aim then has to be to stay in the league and build for next year."

Vinnicombe admits that the only drawback to having such a limited number of players in the squad can come in the form of suspensions and injuries.

His answer will be to sign on younger players from other clubs who will be able to step into Tivvy's senior side when they are short, or else to borrow from the under-18s team he managed before taking up the hotseat at Ladysmead.

"We discussed signing a few younger players who will stay at the clubs they're at but will be able to come and play for us, for example on a Tuesday night, if we need them," said Vinnicombe. "Obviously we can't name any of them just yet. There are several players we've talked to who would make good additions though.

"And I've always said about the under-18s players — if they're good enough, they're old enough."