AFC Telford seal deal for Jack Deaman
AFC Telford United have snapped up Cheltenham Town defender Jack Deaman – as midfielder Mike Grogan looks certain to sit out the National League North opener.
Centre-back Deaman has signed for the Bucks on a six-month loan after turning down the chance to go to Dover.
But Grogan is set to miss the curtain-raiser at Lowestoft Town, after suffering a knee injury in last night's 1-0 friendly win at Market Drayton.
Camden-born Deaman is 22 and made 23 appearances for the Robins last season as they were relegated from League Two.
His chances of signing for Telford appeared to suffer a blow when he played for National League side Dover on Saturday, but played the full 90 minutes at Greenfields last night after agreeing to move to Shropshire.
Manager Steve Kittrick said: "Jack is here for six months now, which is going to be massive for us. He's a good lad, 6ft 2ins-plus and he's a good player.
"He could have gone to Dover and somewhere else to be part of the squad, but he wants to play regularly and get better.
"He will make mistakes – he made a couple last night – but he recovers well and that's what I want from people and to get on with it."
Grogan was injured overstretching for a ball and will be assessed at training tomorrow.
Kittrick said: "Grogan had to come off - it could be a bad one but we don't know yet. It could be his meniscus or it could be fine - we'll see when it settles down, but the signs are it's not good.
"We'll assess it tomorrow when we come to train and if he still can't move it and is still feeling it, then we'll get it sorted.
"In the past I've never arranged a friendly during the week leading up to the first game, but I took a chance because we hadn't played many teams at our level or below and we got an injury."
Striker Dave Hibbert also went off in the first-half after rolling his ankle, but Kittrick insisted he was substituted as a precaution and will be fit for the weekend.
