DOVER ATHLETIC have today signed midfielder Joe Tabiri on a month's loan from Barnet.
The 20 year-old has BlueSquare South experience this season and Andy Hessenthaler believes he will make a difference as the side look to bounce back at Basingstoke on Saturday.
Described by Barnet, where he has made 11 Football League appearances, as "a hard-working terrier", he will go straight into the squad for Saturday's match at Basingstoke.
Tabiri has already featured in a Dover match this season. He played the full 90 minutes in a pulsating FA Trophy clash at Westleigh Park in December, a game that Whites edged 3-2 to set-up the Fleetwood tie.
Whites boss Andy Hessenthaler said: "We've had Joe watched a couple of times since he played against us at Havant, and had really good reports on him.
"Our scout rated him as the best player on the park recently. He's a talented lad and I think he can help us push on a bit this season."
Tabiri showed no hesitancy in getting involved during the FA Trophy tie, putting in a competitive display and shooting from distance at the first opportunity. He joins fellow Bees loanee Daniel Leach at Perrys Crabble and will give added competition for places in midfield.
Tackling Sammy Moore at Havant |
Hess explained why he's using loan deals: "There have been some questions about our use of loans recently. The reality is at this stage of the season it's very difficult to find players to sign permanently.
"Players are sometimes unwilling to join clubs that might change division or ones that are considering their budget, and our budget dictates that we have to make loan signings at the moment.
"Also, this season it has been necessary to find loan players because we've had so many injuries.
"If we hadn't brought in these players, we'd have been going to some games very short of first-teamers and unable to name a fully competitive squad."
Adam Birchall is ruled out of Saturday's game with an injury, so Hess will be forced to reshuffle his pack for the trips to Basingstoke and Bishop's Stortford. Jon Wallis also remains sidelined.
Joe Tabiri's Barnet FC player profile
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