Steven King has hailed the arrival of defender Nick Arnold as a great signing for Whitehawk.

Arnold, 21, has joined the club from Conference side Woking but brings more Football League experience to the Enclosed Ground.

Manager King said: “He’s only 21 but he played 32 games last season for Wycombe Wanderers in League Two.

“He’s a great signing for us. He didn’t just play one or two games for Wycombe, he played 32 games so you would say he was their main right-back in League Two.”

Arnold began his career with Reading’s academy before signing a professional contract.

He was sent on a season-long loan with Wanderers last season but was released by the Royals in May and joined Woking after a trial with Bradford. Arnold’s arrival is timely with Hawks preparing to face high-flying Havant and Waterlooville today.

The Hampshire-based Hawks are third in the table and King admits they present a tough test as they arrive in good form boasting an impressive defensive record.

King said: “In their last nine games they have won seven, drawn one and lost one.

“And they have had an unbelievable amount of clean sheets.”

But King feels there is little to choose between sides scrapping it out in the top half of the division as a glance at the table supports.

King said: “From third to tenth place, the difference in the league is three points.

“On the form we have had, which has not been the best, we’re three points off a side who are third.

“We have had back-to-back wins, albeit Staines and in the Senior Cup, but there is no substitute for winning games. It does not matter who you’re playing.”

He added: “There is no out and out team that is going to run away with it.

“People thought certain clubs were going to be flying straight away but they haven’t done.

“The Suttons and Ebbsfleets have not done that and everybody is beating everybody.”

King is still hunting for a centre-half to help tighten up at the back but is confident the side he has assembled is capable of challenging.

He said: “We have got some of the best players in the league.

“We have arguably two of the best full-backs in the league now, one of the best goalkeepers in the league, for me, we have the best midfield and also we have arguably some of the best forwards you’re going to get.”

And King also stresses how quickly the table can change.

He said: “If you get back to back wins you can jump five or six places in this league.

“If you look at when we beat Staines, we went up to sixth then a couple of results elsewhere and we have fallen back to tenth.”

Whitehawk have no injuries ahead of Havant’s visit.