Jon Abbott busy adding to his Diss Town squad with five new signings

Manager Jon Abbott wants to turn Diss Town into a winning team – and he believes his first five summer signings will help to achieve that target.

Abbott came into the Brewers Green Lane hotseat in January and while he was able to successfully move the Tangerines comfortably clear of the Thurlow Nunn League First Division North bottom two, they struggled to pick up positive results against the better sides.

The off-season has provided Abbott with the opportunity to begin the process of building his own squad, and he has wasted little time in getting to work.

Centre-forward Ryan Fuller has arrived having scored seven goals in 13 games for Premier Division Wroxham last term, while Scole United winger Joe Hooton has made the jump up one league.

And Abbott has also raided Gorleston with Angus Mackie, Aarron Taylor and David Shade all making the move from Emerald Park.

Four of the quintet played higher-level Step 5 football last term and will provide the type of experience Abbott was keen to bring on board.

“It is always hard when you take over a club mid-season,” said Abbott.

“You are never going to get all of the players you want straight away because they are having success at other clubs and perhaps at that time we were not an attractive proposition because we were down the bottom.

“The boys we brought in were fantastic and we got the job done we were looking to do, but I want us to become a winning team.

“When we looked at who we wanted to bring in we were keen to get plenty of Thurlow Nunn Premier Division experience and also players that are used to playing for sides that win.

“The lads we have brought in are good ages as well – all in the early to mid 20s – and they have the know-how and quality to push us on.”

The signing of Fuller was one that Abbott was particularly keen to get over the line.

The marksman – who won a league and cup double with Harleston Town in 2017/18 – will help to alleviate some of the goalscoring burden on Charlie Webb.

Abbott said: “Ryan was a player we identified quite quickly as someone we would like to bring in.

“If you looked at us last year, it was no secret we lacked goals whenever Charlie was not playing.

“We need more goal threats next season and now we have two strikers that will cause problems for defences.

“Hopefully they click as a pair but it is also important that they can play up front on their own, which will give us more flexibility.”

Hooton, meanwhile, is a winger that Abbott knows well from his time in charge of Hadley & Ottaway Anglian Combination Premier Division outfit Scole.

He scored three times for United during the previous campaign, with Abbott confessing he would like to have secured his services sooner.

“In all honesty we would have taken Joe with us to Diss in a heartbeat, but we had an agreement with Scole that we would not approach him straight away because he was one of their key players,” revealed the manager.

“It is great to now have him signed. He is a very quick and direct winger that we have high hopes for.”

As for the Gorleston trio, two of those players – midfielder Mackie and defender Taylor – will be starting second stints with the club, while defender Shade is a fresh face.

Former Norwich United player Mackie made 29 appearances for Gorleston in 2018/19, while Taylor featured on 42 occasions – a number of which were as captain.

Shade turned out 31 times and showed a keen eye for goal, finding the back of the net on six occasions.

“While we needed more goals we also needed to improve the defence – Aaron and David will do that,” added Abbott.

“Aaron is a local lad and was one of our top targets along with David.

“We see Angus as being our engine in the midfield, someone that is going to win the ball back for us and then keep possession – he ticks a lot of boxes.”

* Two more players join Tangerines