Keeper Michael Kelly beat the match registration deadline at the weekend to take a place on the bench with his new team, and manager Paul Simpson spoke after the game at his delight at having secured his services on an initial one-year deal.
“It’s a good one for us and it’s now a challenge for him to show he can play at this level,” he said. “He’s played for Bray, he’s been really keen to come over, he’s a fella who we’ve been talking to for a few weeks.
“He came recommended to Paul Gerrard, we’ve watched him, had him over last week, and with that he said that he’d pay for his own flight, hire a car over from Newcastle and show us what he can do.
“It’s a really good deal for the club, but it’s not a great deal for him, but he’s said I’ll take it and show you I deserve something better.
“The challenge for him is to show us that, and it gives us really good competition with Tomas, and gives him that support in training.
“We’ve had it with Gabe, but I just felt we needed someone a bit more experienced, a bit more of a unit of a goalkeeper to be in there. He’s got a great personality about him and I’m delighted we’ve managed to get him in.”
“There’s a very small fee just to get him out of Bray, an undisclosed fee, but we had to do it,” he added. “The whole deal works out really well for us as a football club and I’m hoping he shows us what he’s about.
“All signings are a gamble, this is a gamble, because he’s never played over here, but he has to show he deserves to, just like Gabe needs to show us he can come into the squad as well. It’s a challenge for everyone to show us they’re worthy of a place in the group.”
