HEREFORD United manager Graham Turner is looking for a blend of youth and experience as he prepares his Bulls squad for the forthcoming Nationwide Conference campaign.

The Edgar Street boss has boosted squad numbers to 18 but with the first friendly of the season less than a week away is continuing to run the rule over several trialists.

Among the youngsters involved in United's pre-season training are Ashley Nicholls, 20, and Danny Williams, 21.

Both are currently on trial at Edgar Street with a view to a permanent move to United and Turner still has other offers in the pipeline.

Nicholls, a former Ipswich Town trainee, was recommended by Mark Venus who played for Turner at Wolves while Williams made 23 appearances for Second Division Chesterfield.

"Nicholls comes highly recommended by Venus at Ipswich so we are going to be having a good look at him," said Turner.

"At the moment we've got a number of players drifting in and out that we are taking a look at and we need to bring the squad up to 17 or 18 but they can't all be senior players -- we need one or two younger players."

Turner has already seen two offers turned down this week due to the distances the players would have been forced to travel.

"When you have families it is difficult to expect players to travel up to two hours a day just for a short term contract so I can understand," he said.

Hereford entertain Tranmere on Friday evening and Turner has been working hard to integrate the new players with established regulars.

"We've been doing plenty of ball work in preparation for the first friendly," he said.

n The full list of friendlies is: July 19, Tranmere - home (7.45); July 23, Swindon - home (7.45); July 31, Bromsgrove - away (7.45); August 3, Bristol City - home (3pm); August 6, Aberystwyth - away (7.45); August 8, Bromyard - away (7.45); August 10, Evesham - away (3pm).