Peterborough Sports sign two former Barnsley players, one of whom is a current international

Josiah Dyer is a 20 year-old forward who made four substitute appearances for Barnsley, three of them last season including one in League One against Huddersfield Town. He’s won 9 senior caps for the Caribbean island of Montserrat, scoring one goal. He spent time on loan at Gainsborough Trinity last season.

Charlie Hickingbottom is a versatile 20 year-old midfielder who made one senior appearance for Barnsley in an EFL Trophy game in 2023. He was also at Northern Premier League side Gainsborough Trinity last season so moving to the Sports is a step up.

Sports have a tough opening day game at Chester on Saturday, but will stick to the approach which has led to steady progress in their brief National League North history.

There will be no outlandish predictions or anything that could remotely be interpreted as over-confidence from within the confines of PIMS Park as Sports embark on a fourth season as a step two club. Few would have suggested such a relatively small club could remain at this level for this long, but they have thrived rather than just survived.

Sports finished 14th (57 points) in 2022-23, 15th (58 points) in 2023-24 and 12th last season, a record finishing position which was backed by a club best 63 points.

“Our only ambition is the to do as well as possible again,” Sports joint-manager Michael Gash insisted. “It would wrong for us to make public statements as to how we think we will do as we know our place at this level.

"We know there are some big clubs in the division with big budgets. Some of them are full-time. I don’t know how big some of those budgets are, but I know we are a bottom four club in that respect.

"All myself and Luke Steele (joint manager) will concentrate on doing is getting the best out of the players we have. That’s what we do best and if we can do that we will have another good season because we believe we have players who can compete well at this level.

"We probably have more depth than last season and we are confident we have recruited pretty well. If we could beat our points total or finishing position from last season that would mean a good season.”

Chester, a former Football League club, finished fourth last season and will fancy their chances of challenging for top spot this time around.

Sports suffered an injury blow in their final pre-season friendly at Stamford AFC last weekend as former Posh striker Shaquile Coulthirst damaged a knee which could keep him on the sidelines for several weeks. The arrival of Dyer will presumably mitigate that loss.

"It’s a blow as Shaq was looking sharp and was obviously a major signing for us,” Gash added. “But we are looking forward to the first game at one of the biggest, best and best supported clubs in the division.

"Chester are an excellent footballing side, but we will go there fancying our chances.”

Coulthirst had scored before limping off in the Stamford game. Fellow summer signing Sam McLintock also netted in a 2-1 win.

Other new signings for Sports include former Posh full-backs Ben Mensah and Aaron Powell, as well as central defender Ethan Young. Bayley McCann and Sam Straughan-Brown have returned on loan from League One sides Barnsley and Doncaster Rovers respectively.

Young had been on trial at Sports this summer. He is a former Stamford AFC player who had was at Scunthorpe United last season.