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Ebbsfleet United hand contract extensions to Joe Howe, Michael West, Aiden Palmer, Alex Osborn and Lloyd Harrington

Aiden Palmer
Aiden Palmer

Five players have signed contract extensions at Ebbsfleet United.

Defenders Joe Howe, Aiden Palmer and Lloyd Harrington and midfielders Michael West and Alex Osborn have all penned new deals which will keep them at Stonebridge Road until the end of the 2015/16 season.

The quintet have all been troubled by injuries this term.

Howe, arguably the Fleet's player-of-the-year, hasn't featured since January 27, when he dislocated his right shoulder in the FA Trophy tie at Braintree.

He'd just passed 200 appearances for Ebbsfleet, having been signed by Liam Daish in October 2010.

West has recently returned to first-team action following a serious knee injury.

The 24-year-old needed multi-ligament reconstruction surgery last April and spent more than a year on the sidelines before scoring on his comeback against Whitehawk on Good Friday.

West, who rejoined Fleet for a second spell from Crewe Alexandra in January 2014, has - like Howe - played under three different managers at Stonebridge Road, scoring 33 goals in 136 appearances.

Meanwhile, Palmer's performances since returning from a career-threatening knee injury earlier this month have persuaded manager Jamie Day to offer the left-back a new deal.

Palmer was brought to the club by Steve Brown in June 2013 and he's played 75 games in Fleet colours, scoring five times.

However, fellow defender Harrington has yet to make his Ebbsfleet debut, having endured a second successive season of injury problems.

Brown, who worked with the 21-year-old at Dover, brought him to Stonebridge Road last summer after Harrington had missed almost all of the 2013/14 campaign with cruciate ligament damage.

But he aggravated the injury during a loan spell at Grays Athletic and has spent the rest of this season trying to build up his fitness.

Osborn, who originally joined the Fleet on loan from Dagenham & Redbridge at the start of last season, has started just eight league games this term following a permanent move in the summer.

In total, he's played 68 times for the club and scored nine goals.

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