Chester FC joint-boss Anthony Johnson hopes he and Bernard Morley will have landed 'four or five' new signings by the end of the week.

Johnson was far from happy with the showing from his side in the 5-3 pre-season win at Runcorn Linnets on Saturday, where the Blues' made heavy work of the Evo-Stik West Division outfit.

Chester have brought in nine new additions this summer following a summer clearout after relegation tot he National League North.

The Blues fielded what looked to be their strongest XI on Saturday for the first half, with a trialist striker with considerable Football League experience leading the line.

But the youthful look of the bench showed the lack of depth, something which the duo are keen to address in order to stop their senior players 'coasting'.

One addition is expected to be confirmed in the next 24-hours, with an attacking midfielder due through the door, while a defender has been spoken to and conversations had with striking options. There could be movement before Friday's pre-season clash at Llandudno.

“A lot of the time me and Bernard are talking during games and we’ve seen enough after three games to know that by Friday night, we’ll want three, four or maybe five done,” said Johnson.

“We’ll be working hard now to get them in because although I’ve said be patient, if those targets are now available we’ve got to go and get them.

“What we don’t want is lads thinking because we’ve only got 11 senior players to start coasting. Every time we’ve put the younger lads on in the second-half of the games, there’s no difference.

“We don’t want lads coasting so we need these deals done as soon as possible, hopefully they start to come available after these friendlies as well.”

One player who is expected to return for the trip to Tudno is Gary Roberts.

The midfielder missed the win at Runcorn with a niggling injury but is expected to feature for a Chester XI tomorrow night in a game against Cheshire League side Blacon at Cairns Crescent (7pm). The Chester side will be mostly trialists and youth team players, although Roberts will play a part.

“It’s not for me to be overly critical of the opposition grounds because it is what it is,” said Johnson.

“They can’t get any irrigation on it because of the weather, but we are picking up niggles because of the grounds we are playing on. They aren’t conducive to what we want to do, you can see even with their passes they are having to work that little bit harder.

“Gary’s just got a strain in his groin from Rammy. Worked it before (Runcorn) but didn’t want to put him in there after that work and we will try to get him 90 minutes."