Stuart Gray has been explaining why he had to act fast to sign Dean Beckwith earlier this week, as he feared he would lose one of his main transfer targets to another club.

"Dean is a player who has always took my eye and we have done well to get him here," he said.

"We had to act quickly or we would have lost him and there were plenty of other clubs ready to pounce. That is why we had to act decisively with Mark Hughes. He had had a long enough period to decide if he wanted to stay. There was no decision from Mark or his agent so we made the decision for them. Had we not, we would have missed out on Dean.

"We could have got to the position where we would have been without both Dean and Mark. We had already given Mark longer than we were obliged to and the matter had to come to a head.

"Dean and Mark are similar players. Dean is probably more dominant in the air and he attacks the ball well. We thank Mark for his efforts and wish him well. He was well within his rights to look around for other offers but we could not wait for ever for a decision from him.

"I have seen Hereford play a few times and Dean Beckwith has always impressed me. I know Wolves were keen on him a while back and I was very surprised when he did not start against us in the game here at the end of last season. He came on within 20 odd minutes though and handled Bayo very well.

"We are still looking to add to the squad further - we certainly need another striker and a wide player. Paul Rodgers is here to prove his fitness and hopefully that will work out for him. Liam Dolman is also back for pre-season to try and win his contract.

"We have spoken to two or three strikers but at this time we have not been able to agree terms with them. What I do know is that at the moment they are not fixed up elsewhere and I think things will happen and deals will be done later on in pre-season. I am comfortable with where we are on that.

"The players have had their summer fitness programmes and all credit to them - they have come back in good shape."