JOHN Sussex believes Basildon United have strength in depth after a summer of recruiting new players.

Sussex, who is preparing for his first full campaign in charge of the Bees, has made a number of signings during the close season.

And the former Witham Town assistant manager felt Harry Doyle coming off the bench and netting in the 3-1 friendly win over FC Romania at the weekend emphasised how many options he now has at his disposal.

“Adam Vyse got a dead leg early in the game, so Harry Doyle had to come on early,” said Sussex, who was appointed as Neil Blackburn’s successor in March.

“Harry did well and he topped his performance off with a goal.

“That shows we have strength in depth now.

“We have brought in five new forwards during the summer and I’m hoping that will pay dividends by us scoring plenty of goals in the upcoming season.”

Gabby Adelowo and Kurt Smith were also on target as the Bees made a winning return to their Cousins Car Wash Stadium home.

And the friendly win has left Sussex in a positive frame of mind.

“FC Romania are undoubtedly the best team we have played so far in pre-season and it was also our best performance by far,” added Sussex.

“We started with our best 11 and I felt we were well organised after working on our shape in training.

“I got the players to prepare as if it was a league game, so we had a gameplan and executed it well.

“There is still a lot of work to do but we are where we want to be at this stage and we are on the right track.”

It was Basildon’s first home friendly of the summer and Sussex was pleased with the condition of the pitch.

“A lot of credit has to go to chairman Dave Maxwell and vice-chairman Lee Connor for spending money on the pitch,” insisted Sussex.

“The pitch was vastly improved from last season and it’s a nice surface.

“I think a lot of teams will enjoy coming to the Cousins Car Wash Stadium to play on our pitch.”