With seven days to go before the National League North opener at Kidderminster Harriers Paul Holleran has further added to his squad with the signings of Gift Mussa and Ravi Shamsi.

Both players were involved in Brakes’ final game of pre season against West Bromwich Albion, Shamsi marking his first appearance in some style with two goals in little more than a minute, a penalty and a stunning 20 yard strike.

Mussa has been involved throughout the warm up fixtures after spending several seasons with Coventry United as they moved up through the Midland League where he played alongside a string of former Brakes players such as Josh Blake and Richard Morris, making 143 appearances and scoring 4 goals. He was initially named as a trialist but has impressed Brakes fans with his endeavour so far.

21 year old attacking midfielder Shamsi began last season with National League side Maidenhead United but spent the majority of the campaign on loan at Banbury United, scoring 16 times in 37 appearances.

He spent two seasons at Fulham with the Under 18’s squad having previously been in the same set up at Oxford United. He signed for Banbury United in the summer of 2017 having , been released by the London club, but had switched to Chesham United by November, switching to Maidenhead in summer 2018.

‘Gift is a player that we’ve known about for some time,’ said manager Paul Holleran. He’s local, and Terry Anderson (Coventry United manager) has spoken very highly of him. He’s a good judge of a player, so we went with him, if I’m being honest, and he wasn’t wrong. Gift has had an excellent pre season so we’ve awarded him with a deal.’

‘Ravi’s someone we’ve had around for a bit but because of his injury he’s been unable to train with us. We’ve agreed terms with both players, Gift is nearly up to speed but obviously Ravi will probably need another couple of weeks. With the impact he has made today you can see why we were keen to bring him in.’