Things have gone better than expected for striker Rolando Onu after smashing his initial goal target for Sheppey United.

Onu had hoped to hit double figures by Christmas, but had already achieved that aim by early September, and he’s well on course to reach 20 goals before his birthday in March - his second target. He made it 17 for the season with a late equaliser for parent club Dover Athletic on Tuesday night in a 1-1 draw at Horsham.

His early-season form led to a debut for Dover last month, as a late substitute at home to Horsham, and he was back with them on Tuesday night for their National South return fixture against the same side.

His 16 goals for Sheppey put him on Dover’s radar for more minutes as they’re currently experiencing a shortage of strikers at Crabble due to injuries.

He came on as a 67th-minute substitute in Whites’ midweek match and came up with the equaliser with just two minutes of normal time remaining.

Sheppey fans will hope he gets more time with them, for obvious reasons, and Onu - who has scored on his last five appearances for the Isthmian South East side - has clearly got plenty out of the move.

“I really have been enjoying it - it’s been a lot of fun playing under Kevin (Watson, manager) and Tommy (Osborne, assistant),” said the Dover academy graduate, speaking before his midweek heroics.

“I think playing week in, week out, has helped and then there’s the added confidence, not only from the management but your team-mates to trust you and to look for you as that man to be scoring the goals. It helps as well.

“I think I’ve progressed a lot. I speak a lot to the management. I’m scoring goals, but now it’s just about the finer details, in terms of technical bits and reading the game and being a bit more intelligent with it, and that’s helping me go to that next level. There’s still room for improvement, which is good.”

Sheppey have found some good form of late, winning their last three league matches, beating Deal Town away 3-1 last Saturday, a result that came after back-to-back 2-0 wins.

Onu was suspended at the weekend, forced to miss the game at Deal as Tyler Hatton scored an early opener for The Ites before Hassan Ibrahiym’s double clinched another three points.

Sheppey played Crowborough on Tuesday night in a Velocity Cup tie at Holm Park – beaten 4-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw – and have more home fixtures ahead, playing on Saturday against Merstham, and then next Tuesday when they entertain Herne Bay.

Wherever Onu’s playing, he’ll hope to keep his scoring run going.

He said: “Me and my friend had a bet that by my birthday in March, I should have 20 goals. It’s been good motivation, and if I don’t get 20 by March, something terrible must have happened!”

Onu scored his first senior hat-trick early on in the season with Sheppey and was buzzing to have made got his chance at Dover too.

“I thank God so much for the opportunity [at Dover],” he said. “It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time, since coming through the academy there.

“It was something I was hoping would come through my performances, to get rewarded. Hopefully I can keep up the performances and some more opportunities can come about from that.”

Onu’s now a coach at the Dover academy, which allows him the chance to pass on his knowledge, and once lessons have finished he can get extra training himself alongside fellow academy coach and Dover player Luke Baptiste.

With training at both Dover and Sheppey in the last few months, the striker has been getting plenty of information to feed off.

He said: “I have been training once a week with Sheppey and once a week with Dover, getting the best of both worlds. I’ve loved it.”

Sheppey forward Dieko Falade has joined Southern Counties East Premier Division side Hollands & Blair on a dual registration deal and he made his debut for the team on Saturday.