St Ives Town manager Ricky Marheineke has made his first new signing ahead of their debut Southern League Premier Division season.

The Saints chief has swooped for teenage winger Joe Carden, who arrives from a Histon side relegated from this level last term.

Carden is well known to both Marheineke and his number two, Jack Cassidy, from their own stints working at his previous club.

Marheineke said: “Joe will be one of the quickest players in the division. He can play on either side and he does so with bags of energy.

“He worked with ‘Cass’ in the youth team at Histon and I also know plenty about him from my time as assistant manager there.

“We have monitored his progress in the past 12 months and seen that he has started to fulfil his otential.

“He forced his way into the Histon team in the second half of last season and the experience gained of playing in the Southern League Premier Division during that time will only be of benefit.

“I feel sure he will be a good signing for St Ives Town – not just for the short-term, but also for the long-term.”

Marheineke is hopeful of making further additions to his squad in the coming days despite finding it tough to compete financially in the race for players.

He added: “We knew it would be tough to attract players as we’re being priced out of a number of our targets from both Step 3 and Step 4 levels, but I’m confident we will be able to put out a team that can be competitive and survive in the Premier Division.

“Our target will be to get to 48 points as quickly as possible as we believe that figure will keep us up.”

St Ives have released midfielder Jack Warwick, who played in both play-off matches as they clinched promotion from Division One (Central), and striker Stuart Eason in recent days.

Influential defender Steven Gentle also departed following the promotion success due to his desire to remain at Step 4.