New striker won't be last signing

The former England C star, who was with Torquay United last season, signed for the Gladiators after last Saturday’s 3-1 home win against Mansfield Town U21s before scoring twice and recording his first assist as a Gladiator in Monday night’s 3-1 win at South Normanton Athletic.

Hopkins told supporters: “There’ll be one or two more joining before the start of the season, players who maybe are trialling with Football League and Conference clubs. This is where our patience will come in but we’ve done a lot of groundwork already.”

Hopkins was delighted to offer a new challenge to the 32-year-old who played in the Football League for Notts County, Northampton Town, Bury, Rotherham United, Cheltenham Town and Burton Albion after helping the latter win the Conference title.

“We’ve been speaking to him on and off for three years but this has been our first real chance of getting him” explained Hopkins. “He knows how much we wanted him to come here and it’s paid off in the end.

“He’s very good in front of goal, very good with his back to goal and has massive experience plus a first class attitude. Let’s face it, you don’t play for Nigel Clough at Burton without having a good attitude. He showed his class with his goal against South Normanton, it was a great finish.”

With last season’s loan star and EVO-STIK League Young Player of the Year Marcus Dinanga returning to the DCJ Group Arena today (Saturday) with the Brewers, Kirkwood, a former Albion player, reckons fans will enjoy the reunion after their 2-1 win over a strong Sheffield United side on Wednesday night.

He said: “It’ll be an incredibly tough game for us for they’ll send a strong side. It’ll be nice to see Marcus again, he was fantastic for us. There’ll also be players who were playing Championship football last season and will be doing so this season so it’ll be a good game for us and one for the crowd to enjoy.”

Images courtesy of Graham Lindley

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