St Ives Town boss Ricky Marheineke is attempting to bring local lad Ben Keating back to the club.

The former Welsh Under 16 international, who lives in the town, saw a loan spell at ProEdge Westwood Road cut short by injury last season.

Keating has since been released by League One club Peterborough United and is training with the Saints squad ahead of their first-ever season of Step 3 football.

And he is likely to feature in the opening two friendly fixtures in the coming days – home dates against Step 6 side Oakham United this Saturday, 3pm, and a visit from a Peterborough United youth XI on Tuesday, at 7.45pm.

Marheineke said: “Ben is a young lad with a lot of talent. He enjoyed his time on loan with us last season and I’m hoping we can get him back again.

“He is training with us in pre-season and we’ll look to get him some minutes in the first two friendlies.”

The start of the pre-season fixtures will provide Saints fans with a first glimpse of several summer signings with Marheineke making a host of additions to the squad which gained promotion through the Southern League Division One (South) play-offs last term.

One new recruit they won’t see this Saturday is defender Liam McDevitt as the former Royston Town man is away. Goalkeeper Tim Trebes is also missing along with wideman Scott Sinclair.

Marheineke added: “We’ll get 45 minutes into as many players as possible against Oakham and look to increase it to an hour for some against the Posh team.

“Pre-season is about ensuring players become familiar with the systems we use and the roles they play in it.

“We’ll get to that position with plenty of training and seven games in the next five weeks.”

There will be a familiar face in the visiting dugout as former Huntingdon Town boss Seb Hayes is now number two at Oakham United.

Hayes was previously Marheineke’s assistant during his time at Huntingdon.