Crawley boss Steve Evans is willing to play the waiting game to add the finishing touches to his new-look squad.

Evans wants to sign two more players before the opening Blue Square premier game of the season against York City on August 9.

He has already brought in eight new faces and will not rush to find the right talent to complete his summer rebuilding process.

Evans said: "I would like to add a couple more but I'm not going to jump in at this stage. There are a lot of lads on trial at League clubs at the moment and we are waiting to see what happens. There is one I have been tracking for a while and he is having a trial at the moment.

"You always have a few who fall out and you can pick them up. It is the same at any club at any level.

"We have had to walk away from a couple of deals due to finances because I'm not prepared to sign players just for the sake of it.

"They have to fit two factors, whether they fit into our playing requirements and whether they fit into the wage bill."

Evans believes the squad he has assembled is already stronger than last season's.

He said: "We have 16 players in the door already and you can see from training there is a lot of quality there.

"In real terms we are a lot stronger than last year. You saw last season that when we had our strongest 11 we could beat the likes of Aldershot and Torquay but when we had two or three injuries, the players who came in were quite simply not good enough.

"This year we have strength in every department and a lot of options. (Assistant manager) Paul Raynor and I have discussed what our best team will be and we have both come up with different line-ups.

"Ideally you would want a squad of 24 quality players like Rushden or Torquay have but we can't afford to do that. So I would rather go down in numbers and keep the standard high than have a big squad when five or six are not good enough and never going to play."

Reds begin their pre-season programme on Monday against Championship side Crystal Palace. Neil Warnock is set to bring a full-strength team to Broadfield Stadium, including Dougie Freedman, Shefki Kuqi and Sussex-born Paul Ifill.

Evans said: "We are going to be severely tested and that is what I want. There is no point playing teams you are going to beat five or six nil, we want it to be competitive and we will get that against them."

In what positions do you think Evans needs to strengthen his squad?