Manager Matt Clements is thrilled to have retained the services of his St Neots Town stars.

Eight members of the Saints squad - which climbed into the top half of the Southern League Premier Division and lifted the Hunts Senior Cup last term - have agreed to stay.

Defenders Taylor Parr,Tom Wood and Johnny Herd, attacking aces Dylan Wiliams, Dion Sembie-Ferris and Nabil Shariff, skipper Luke Knight and utility man Scott Sinclair have all thrashed out new deals.

Centre-back Liam McDevitt is also considering an offer to stay at Saints for the new Southern League Central campaign, but has also attracted interest from elsewhere.

“We made offers to nine existing players and to have eight of them already agreed is terrific,” said boss Clements.

“These players all display the traits we look for and also possess the quality to continue performing well at this level.

“We’ve retained the most consistent and best members of last season’s squad and we hope we can add Liam to that as well.

“Being able to keep hold of key figures all over the pitch gives us a great platform to build on when bringing in a couple of new faces in the coming weeks.

“Having a settled squad was crucial to our progress last season and we want to ensure that is the case again.”

Midfielder Harry O’Malley, who missed a large chunk of last season through illness, has been offered the chance to return for pre-season.

But fellow midfielders Kyran Wiltshire and Jonny Butler, and wideman Stefan Broccoli have been released.

Player-coach David Bridges is also expected to continue to figure prominently on the pitch next season.