GOALKEEPER Mark Hervin is eager to get back between the posts and prove to the fans he is still Chippenham Town's number one.

Hervin has spent the whole of the close season travelling around America coaching football and has missed almost all of the pre-season at Hardenhuish.

He returned to England on Tuesday morning and is expected to play in tomorrow's match at Paulton Rovers, where he is determined to remind everyone what he is capable of.

He said: "While I have been away the club has got trialist goalkeepers in and it is up to me now to show why I was the number one last season.

"I am still the first choice but obviously if I don't perform then which ever one Steve signs will be putting pressure on my place.

"There are no guarantees in football, I know that, but I am confident enough in my own ability to earn a starting position through ability."

Chippenham Town boss Steve White will decide whether to sign Chris Giannangelo or Chris Astley next week as back up to Hervin, and the shot stopper believes the added competition is a good thing.

He said: "We definitely need another goalkeeper because if I had got injured last season we would have been in trouble.

"Also although he will initially be signed as a number two, whoever comes in will be trying to impress and take my place so it will keep me on my toes.

"I am looking forward to the match at Paulton because I haven't seen the lads for a while."

In the last couple of months Hervin, 31, has visited Phoenix, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, as he helps spread the word of football to the Americans.

He was coaching children between the ages of five and 17 and said it was a enjoyable experience.

He said: "I got a lot from it, and as this is the first pre-season I have missed in my entire career I think I was due one.

"I have been keeping fit anyway and all I have really missed out on is match practice with the lads.

"Football is becoming a very big thing in America and the children find it valuable to have English people out there coaching them because the Americans still don't really understand the game.

"If someone went out there and set up a coaching business I think they would be sitting on a gold mine, it is very tempting."

Hervin has arrived back to the departures of team-mates Colin Towler, Tom Gould and Charlie Griffin, but he is confident the team will cope without them.

He said: "We may have lost a few players but we have also gained some. I don't see why we can't be up there.

"I have been keeping up to date with what has been happening on the web and I fully believe we will have a successful season."