Fareham Town taking a look at possible two new recruits ahead of US Portsmouth trip

The Reds boss had spoken of his desire to bolster his squad with some 'experienced defenders' in the wake of last weekend's 5-0 home Wessex League Premier Division defeat to Shaftesbury.

Stiles revealed just one of the duo who will be training with his squad tonight (Thursday) is a defender, but told the other is a ‘very good player’.

And should all go well with the potential new recruits, both could be signed in time for Saturday's PO postcode derby trip to take on US Portsmouth.

Stiles said: ‘I’ve got a couple coming training (on) Thursday so we’ll see where we are with them (possible new recruits).

‘Unfortunately only one of them is (a defender) but there’s another very good player who I’m going to have a look at on Thursday to have a chat with, but I can’t say too much at the moment. Possibly, yeah (could be signed in time for weekend).’

Fareham have picked up just a point from a possible six in their previous two league outings.

They'll be bidding to claim a first Wessex Premier win in three attempts at a US Portsmouth they defeated 6-1 at home in the reverse fixture earlier this season.

Yet Stiles stressed his squad would be foolish to expect an easy ride against an 'tough' USP side.

He added: ‘It’s going to be a tricky game. We obviously beat them 6-1 at our place, which flattered us a little bit, we scored a lot of goals at the end - it was a bit of a harsh scoreline.

‘They’ve strengthened since then so they’re going to be stronger so I’m expecting a tough game.

‘All I want to do is get three points, I’m not looking to go there - 1-0 is good enough - it’s going to be hard if we’re going to get it, we’re going to have to work hard.

‘They’ve come into this division now and they’re starting to find their feet a bit. They’ve brought in some good acquisitions, there’s a few good players they’ve brought in, I think they’ll be a lot stronger now (from last time teams met).’

Both Curt Robbins and Dan Bennett are in contention to feature against US Portsmouth having missed the midweek penalties League Cup win at Brockenhurst.

But the Reds are expecting to be without Archie Willcox (dislocated shoulder) for 'four-to-six weeks' and fellow defender Jack Breed (hamstring) for 'up to a month' after the pair came off injured in the defeat to Shaftesbury last weekend.