Sheppey United’s new loan signing from Gillingham has the attributes to be a fans’ favourite.

The Ites gave Gills defender Sam Gale an opportunity to taste men’s football three years ago and he’s gone on to become a mainstay in the League 2 side’s defence.

Teenage attacking midfielder Ben Clark is hoping he can impress too and made his debut off the bench as Sheppey drew 1-1 at Hassocks on Saturday.

Clark will be pushing for a start this weekend when unbeaten Jersey Bulls head to Holm Park for an Isthmian South East fixture, which kicks off at the earlier time of 1.30pm.

Ites vice-chairman and general manager Lee Allen is excited to see what their new man can produce.

Allen said: “Ben came on for the last 15-20 minutes and was quite a livewire.

“He certainly put thoughts in manager Kevin Watson’s head about starting the next game. He opened Hassocks’ defence up a few times and has very quick feet.

“I’m sure the home fans will love him if he gets on the pitch this weekend.”

Allen’s got a number of roles at the club, in the dugout on matchdays and as a helping hand for the management team while also representing the club on the board.

He was part of the interview panel that recruited Watson.

So far this season, the Ites have lost more games than they’ve won, but Allen admits they were not expecting lift off straight away following big changes at the club since the death of legendary ex-boss Ernie Batten.

Allen said: “From the start we agreed with Kev that it was always going to be a two-to three-year project.

“This year is mainly about a reset and a rebuild, so no great surprises really, because we’re still adapting to the way Kev wants to play.

“We’ve been hit quite hard by injuries. We’ve only got a small squad, and we’ve got the likes of Danny Leonard out for at least a couple more weeks. Jacob Lambert’s been injured.

“We haven’t picked the same team for more than two games running and even that was back at the start of August.

“There has been a bit of a bug going around as well recently and Billy Bennett’s been playing with an ankle injury for the last three or four weeks as well. It’s been tough on that front.

“This year was about Kev setting the foundations, and then hopefully next year we’ll kick on.”

The Ites produced a poor midweek display last Tuesday in a 3-0 loss to Hastings but picked up a point on the road at the weekend, with Rolando Onu taking his goal tally to 12 for the season in the draw at Hassocks.

Allen said: “It was a well built up goal. Jacob Lambert played a key part in a multi-pass move.

“We haven’t been scoring a lot of goals lately but the way we took that goal was fantastic.

“It was quite windy to say the least. The conditions affected both teams.

“Our goalkeeper Adam Molloy made a fantastic save before half-time from a free-kick. We came out second half and invited a bit of pressure, which inevitably led to an equalising goal. Both teams could have gone on and won.

“We threw on Dan Bradshaw at the end to try and get those three points. All in all, I think a draw was a fair result looking back at the game.”

Sheppey’s stadium sponsors Sharrocks, meanwhile, have extended their agreement to run until at least the end of the 2026/27 season, with the Sheerness-based insurance company having a logo on the shirt.

Allen said: “We had a little bit of a tough time after Christmas where we had to re-look at some of the finances and operations within the club.

“Sharrocks have been very good and committed to a long-term stadium deal while BH Drilling have signed a long-term shirt sponsor deal and we’ve got BJC Electrical who have done multiple sponsorships around the stadium as well. We thank our sponsors highly because without them, we’d struggle.”

Isthmian South East table