Folkestone Invicta boss Andy Drury on signing ex-Ebbsfleet United winger Matthias Fanimo - a one-time England under-16 skipper and West Ham United youth-team star

Andy Drury is optimistic it won’t take long for new Folkestone winger Matthias Fanimo to hit the ground running.

Fanimo has reunited with manager Drury at Cheriton Road - the pair previously having played together at Eastleigh.

A former West Ham youth-team player, the 30-year-old started in Invicta’s shootout Kent Senior Cup loss to Phoenix Sports last Tuesday, which ended in a 1-1 draw after normal time, before he came off the substitutes’ bench in last weekend’s last-gasp 2-1 Isthmian Premier defeat at Chichester.

Folkestone will hope the ex-Ebbsfleet player can help ease the burden on six-goal top scorer Dan Smith.

On what Fanimo will bring to the team, Drury said: “Pace, creativity and, hopefully, goals!

“I played with Matthi at Eastleigh many years ago. Hopefully, he can come in and hit the ground running and do well.

“He has everything that’s needed. Last year, he was at Ebbsfleet in the National League.

“If we can get him up to speed, I’m sure he’ll be a good signing.”

Drury hopes the former England under-16 skipper will be the final addition for a while as he continues to fine-tune his new-look squad that mostly came together in the summer.

He said: “I cannot complain about the board. We’ve got a long-term plan, and I think everybody agrees that you cannot put together 16 new players and expect to be top of the league within eight games.

“A lot of the results were a bit crazy at the weekend and I think that’s just where people are getting used to, playing with new people. We’ve still been adding here and there and we don’t want to do that anymore.

“We’re pretty much set with who we have brought in, although we might have to get one or two out.”

Smith put Drury’s team in front in the first half at Chichester but