Sheppey United will be hoping their new loan recruit can rediscover the scoring form that brought him eight goals in two months at Chatham Town.
Stanley Oldfield enjoyed a super start to the season at Chatham, with a flurry of goals in the FA Cup and Isthmian Premier Division, before injury halted his progress.
The former Charlton youngster has previously had a spell at Ashford United, where he played under the Sheppey management duo of Kevin Watson and Tommy Osborne, and they’re glad to have him again.
Assistant boss Osborne said: “Stanley made his debut for us on Saturday. He was a little bit rusty because he’s coming back from injury but we’re really confident he can be a good addition this month.
“He started the season really well for Chatham. He was starting for them at step three and they’re flying.
“He scored a few goals and he was probably doing better than expected, then unfortunately, he got an injury which has set him back a little bit.
“In the time that Stanley’s been out, Chatham have gone on a really good run, and they might even still have one eye on the title.
“Stanley’s probably going to have to earn his place there again and hopefully we can give him that platform to do it.
“If he can find that early-season form again it would be good for us and it’d be good for Stanley. So it could be a win-win for both us, Stanley and Chatham.”
The Ites are heading to the Channel Islands this Saturday for an away game against the Jersey Bulls, flying out on the morning of the game for a 4pm kick-off and returning on Sunday morning.
It’s a game Osborne hopes the players enjoy, having experienced something similar when he played against Guernsey a few years ago.
He said: “It was a very similar journey, you’re up and down on the plane, and it’s a lot of organising by the club but a good experience.
“It’s a bit different, and to be honest with you, the players just have to turn up!
“It’s the club, really, that has to do all of the organising in the background.
“Jersey get quite a good crowd there, and this is a really good opportunity for the players to experience something different, playing against a decent team in front of a decent crowd.
“Hopefully, the players see it as an exciting weekend and embrace it.”
The signing of Oldfield has added an extra option in attack and they also expect to have experienced striker Dan Bradshaw back available.
“That would be a plus,” Osborne said. “How fit Danny’s going to be is a little bit of a question mark, but he will be available.
“We’ve got Kieran (Agbebi), and now Stanley on a month’s loan, and if we hadn’t made those two signings, we might have been leaning on Dan Bradshaw, which is a bit unfair for him to be starting when he hasn’t kicked a ball for three weeks now, not even in training. But we’re not in that situation, so that’s good.”
Danny Leonard, Jacob Lambert and Ben Clark are all unlikely to be available, and defender Archie Johnson picked up a nasty cut to his ankle in last Saturday’s goalless draw against Beckenham. He will be assessed before they travel.
Osborne knows the left-back will be doing all he can to make the plane.
He said: “It would be a blow for us because he has been one of our most consistent performers this season.
“He’s played injured and with knocks already this season and there would be no doubting his willingness to play. We’ve just got to make sure that he actually can play.”
Despite the injuries, Osborne is confident they have a good enough squad to bring home the points.
He said: “Although we are a few short, it’s a squad that we feel can get a result from the game.
“Jersey are right up there in knocking on the door for the play-offs.
“They had a good result against Sittingbourne last weekend, drawing 1-1, and they will be going into the game very confident but we will as well. It should be a good game.”
Sheppey have drawn their last two games in Isthmian South East but the management team were happier with the latest performance.
Osborne said: “In terms of individual performances, I think it was a better performance from us.
“I felt there were a few players below par against Eastbourne (the previous week). I don’t think that was the case against Beckenham.
“You try as hard as you can not to watch the game with your Sheppey blinkers on but for me, personally, I felt we did enough to win the game.
“We were in their half of the pitch for most of the game and we got in enough good areas to score. It was just a little disappointing that we didn’t make the most of it when we got in those good areas.”
