MANAGER Les Jones believes Malvern Town need to add “a few quality players” to go from top-four contenders to title winners next season.

Town’s chief insists he wants to keep “the vast majority” of last season’s squad who secured a fourth placed finish in West Midlands League Premier Division.

But he revealed he was in talks with “four potential signings” who he felt could help his side launch a promotion push in the 2017/18 campaign.

Malvern have already lost midfielder Nathan Hayward to Worcester City who have dropped three levels to play in Midland League Premier Division, and captain Reece King to Gloucester City.

They also face a battle to retain 51-goal striker Dave Reynolds this summer.

“Our aim is to really go for promotion next season,” Jones said. “We want to retain the vast majority of our current squad and add a few quality players to take us from being in the top four which we have been for the last three or four seasons into the promotion spot.

“We have got four potential signings that we are speaking to, but we know Worcester are in the mix as well.”

Malvern were 20 points behind champions Haughmond and failed to match the previous season’s top-three finish.

But Jones said he was “really pleased” with his players’ efforts as they scored more than 120 goals and reached the semi-finals of the Smedley Crooke Memorial Cup despite being hampered by injuries for much of the campaign.

“We saw progress and we got more points than last year with four less games so our points tally was better and we scored more goals,” Jones added.

“We had the top goal-scorer in the league in Dave Reynolds and we had a small run in the FA Vase, so it was a really good season.

“If we had beaten Bewdley on the last day of the season we would have finished off in a cup final which would have made it a fantastic season.

“We wanted to be in the top three, but we were one win away from doing that and we finished with nine wins out of 10.

“We overcame a lot of injuries, we lost Reece with a broken leg and then we lost him to Gloucester, so the guys came through fantastically well. We are delighted and really pleased with the season, but our target next season is to get promotion.”