Common bring in young Hastings defender

The Commoners have signed teenage defender Tom Climpson on a dual registration basis in time for their final nine Macron Store Southern Combination Football League Division One matches.

Common player-manager Russell Eldridge said: “He’s got all the attributes to become a good player. He’s a young player that I know well and he comes to us with good pedigree.

“He’s a strong, committed, good young player and he will give us a little bit of pace as well. We’ll be looking for him to help us, and we’ll be looking to help him and give him experience as well.”

Climpson played for Hastings a few times earlier in this season, primarily at right-back, although he can play anywhere across the back line. He also plays for Sussex at under-18 level.

Eldridge added that he is also ‘looking at a couple of other options’ in terms of bringing new players into the club at a key stage of the season.

Common are third in the table - three points behind leaders Saltdean United - and the top five clubs are covered by just six points.

“We’ve maintained even when we’ve been at the top, we’ll just concentrate on each game as it comes and that hasn’t changed really,” continued Eldridge. “As quickly as you drop down a place, you can move up a place with a win.

“With teams around the top six playing each other, teams are going to drop points and that’s where we’re going to have to look to take advantage. We’ll concentrate on ourselves and not look at other people and what they’re doing.”

After their first postponement of the campaign away to Midhurst & Easebourne last weekend (due to a waterlogged pitch), Common will return to action with an important home game against Langney Wanderers tomorrow (Saturday). Kick-off is 3pm.

Langney are somewhat surprisingly down in 11th place, but are the division’s joint third highest scorers (Common are the highest) and knocked Common out of two cup competitions earlier in the campaign.

“It’s a team that we haven’t really done well against in the past, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Eldridge went on. “They’ve got some dangerous players, and we’ll need to prepare right and have the right approach.

“We’ll be going into it in a good frame of mind and looking to be positive. We’ll be looking to try and make amends for those two (cup) defeats and if we can pick up three points this weekend, those results will be forgotten about.

“We have to play to our strengths, and I think our strengths are generally attacking and scoring goals. But it’s about being right at both ends of the pitch.

“We’ve got to improve defensively if we’re going to do well this season and that’s not just the back four, that’s everyone in the whole team. We’ve got to improve all round the pitch to be honest.”

Common’s under-21s, meanwhile, lost 4-1 away to Eastbourne United AFC in Southern Combination League Under 21 (East) on Monday night. Rosh Wells was on target for a Common side which lies seventh in the 10-team division.

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