News

Trialists Nathan Morris, Kevin Lock and Jordi Gough have all signed for the club after impressing manager Gary Norton in recent training and friendly games. They join fellow new signings Barry Woolley (Ilkeston Town), Oliver Hancock (Burton Albion), Tom Liversage (Burton Albion), Robbie Banks (Coalville Town), Jamie Barrett (Mickleover Sports) and Mickey Lyons (Enfield / Nuneaton Town) at the Moat Ground for the new season.

Add these players to the likes of Lee Mellon, Gavin Saunders and Brian Woodall who all signed towards the end of last season, the Rovers squad will certainly have a very different look from the one that took the field in the first games of last season against Retford United.

Both Gough and Lock have signed from defunct neighbours Stapenhill and have been set the challenge to establish themselves as regular squad members this season. Norton commented: "Jordi is an exciting prospect and possibly one to watch out for during the coming months.

"He can play either on the wing or upfront and has got a fair bit of pace about him whilst Kevin is a big hard working front man who just wants an opportunity to try and prove himself at this level. He has done quite well in training and a couple of friendly appearances and we have nothing to lose by signing him and seeing what develops.

"We haven't made any promises to either player about their opportunities in the team - we have just set them both the challenge to work and train hard and see where they go from there. Both have the potential to do well at this level"

Morris - who has had a few slight injury problems during pre-season has done enough to impress and earn himself a deal. Norton added: "Nathan is a versatile defender/ midfielder and has shown decent quality in his time with us. We haven't yet seen what he is fully capable of as he's had a couple of slight injury problems during the last few weeks but we beat off a couple of other clubs for his signature and once he's fully fit we will hopefully get chance to see just what he can do."

Winger Chris Sleath also has signed forms for the new season and has been set the challenge of breaking back into the team after slipping down the pecking order. Sleath has yet to start a game in pre-season but wants to stay at the Moat Ground and fight for a place in the squad.

"Chris has been working extremely hard in the summer on his strength and fitness and his whole attitude is an absolute credit to him," said Norton.

"He has comeback from the break one of the fittest players we have at the club but having signed three wingers in the summer Chris hasn't featured as much as he would have liked. However, he loves it at the club and rather than sulk about it and find a new club he wants to stay and fight for a place in the squad which we are all delighted about."

Meanwhile it is expected that Carl Slater will agree terms with the club and sign later this week. The midfielder had bridges to build with the club after going AWOL at the end of last season due to personal problems.

However, manager Norton refused to close the door on the supporters' favourite and his performances in pre-season have been back to the standard they were before he picked up a serious knee injury at the end of the 06/07 season. Even after Shaun Ridgeway's decision to leave the club the central midfield area looks to have great competition for places with the likes Lee Mellon, Gavin Saunders, Mickey Lyons and Jamie Barrett all in contention for places.

Norton still has to decide the future of a couple more trialists but still an area of concern for the Moat Ground boss is the lack of forward options currently at the club and it is something that he is still working hard at to address.

He said: "Apart from David Blenkinsopp we currently have very few established forwards at the club. We do of course have Brian Woodall who can play there but we are lacking another real established goalscoring threat. There are plenty of untried prospects out there but we are looking for someone proven at this level to boost us in that department.

Despite us talking to many targets over the summer we still have yet to sign anyone. However, we are still working hard on it and may even look at taking some on loan but we won't sign someone for the sake of it. If someone comes available within our allowable budget then we will make every effort to try and bring them in but failing that we will go with what we currently have."

The goalkeeping department is also still a concern to Norton after young 2nd choice goalkeeper Tommy Allen left the club to sign for Borrowash Victoria in a bid to play regular first team football with the manager commenting: "Tommy needs to be continuing his development and playing first team football and this move will hopefully provide this for him.

"He didn't want another season as a number two and we have had a couple of chats about the situation and he feels its best for him at this stage of his career to move. He will still stay connected with the club and possibly one day will be a great option for a first choice keeper for us but for now, he will play his football at Vics. We will assess our options during the next week or so and decide what to do regarding our 2nd choice keeper from there".

Current Squad

Dave Clarke
Dan Douglas
Miles Chamberlain
Barry Woolley
Jamie Hood
Nathan Morris
Tom Liversage
Robbie Banks
Oliver Hancock
Lee Mellon
Jamie Barrett
Gavin Saunders
Mickey Lyons
David Blenkinsopp
Brian Woodall
Tom Groves
Kevin Lock
Jordi Gough
Chris Sleath
Carl Slater *

*subject to signing