INJURY-ravaged Droitwich Spa have boosted their strike force ahead of the promotion run-in after signing striker Louis Bridges.
Bridges joins the Saltmen from Pershore Town who play one league above in Midland League Division One.
The 25-year-old has previously played for Worcester City, Stourport Swifts and Southam United before moving back to Pershore in November 2015.
In 2013/14 he scored 15 goals in 31 league starts for Pershore before moving to Southam United the following season, finding the net 34 times in 46 appearances.
But Bridges suffered a cruciate ligament injury playing against Bromsgrove Sporting in the Les James Challenge Cup final at Walsall’s Banks’s Stadium in May 2015.
After almost 18 months out, he returned in October last year, and scored five goals in 15 appearances this season whilst also captaining the team.
The arrival of Bridges will come as a huge boost to Droitwich who are currently without last season’s top scorer James Lemon who suffered a leg injury before Christmas. Macauley Finch is also on the sidelines as is Haydn Morris.
Joint-boss Wayne Oliver said: “Louis is known to the management and some of the lads after his time at Pershore and Southam.
“He will bring added quality to the forward line and his goal-scoring record at the level above speaks for itself.
“We have an injury crisis up-front at the moment. However, we are not viewing the move as short-term cover – Louis will have an important role to play as the club move forward.
“Rather than continue and play players out of position we felt we needed to get a striker in.”
Bridges said he was looking forward to playing for Droitwich and helping the team seal promotion:
“The feedback which I’ve had from the players about the quality of the setup, plus having known [joint-manager] Mark (Owen) for a long time, I know that the club will be set up to achieve and I want to be a part of that success,” he said.
“I can’t wait to get started.”
Bridges is expected to go straight into the squad when Droitwich continue their promotion push when they visit bottom-of-the-table Continental Star tomorrow (Saturday).
Droitwich, currently second in Division Two, came through a thriller last week beating promotion rivals Knowle FC 4-3 at home.
Oliver said he wanted his team to put in a professional display and take home the points.
“We’ve lost to bottom-of-the-table sides before this season, so Saturday will tell us if we have learnt lessons and grown up as a side,” he said.
“We’ve got 12 games left and we are going to treat each one like it is a cup final. We’ve got to give it everything we’ve got.”
