Dorchester Town Football Club are delighted to announce the double loan signing of Ollie Haste and Benjani Jr from Yeovil Town (subject to FA approval).
The duo arrive at The Avenue on season-long deals, and having both featured against The Magpies for their parent club in our pre-season fixture against Yeovil Town, both Haste and Benjani Jr impressed in our friendlies against Wimborne Town and Eastleigh starting as trialists wearing numbers #11 and #10 respectively.
Defender Haste spent a successful season on loan at Truro City last year where he was part of the side that won promotion to the National League South, while striker Benjani Jr – who has already scored his first goal for the club on Tuesday night against Eastleigh – spent time on loan at Sherborne Town during the previous campaign.
Speaking after the Wimborne friendly last weekend, boss Glenn Howes said: “The two lads coming in are season long loans, so we can plan relatively long term with them, and both of them we know reasonably well.”
“Ollie had a standout season last year with Truro, and we felt deservedly gained promotion when we played against them three times last year, so we know a lot about him.”
“He’s very athletic, he's young but aggressive, good in and out of possession, and as you saw today, he’s very competent even though this was his first outing as he has not trained with us yet, so he’s going to be very good.”
“Benjani is little bit different to what we have and he offered us a huge spark out there today. He’s got that little bit of magic, little bit of creativity in the final third dropping off into spaces, and he’s tenacious for an 18-year-old – he’s not just got ability, his work ethic is really impressive as well.”
“He played against us last Tuesday night and caused us untold problems. He's going to need a bit of patience as it's his first full season at this level, but he's had a really good pre-season with Yeovil and starting to turn heads.”
“When the opportunity arose from Toddy (Chris Todd, assistant manager), Matt (Percival, U18 manager) and the team at Yeovil we snapped their arms off, so it’s going to be a pleasure working with them two.”
Welcome Ollie and Benji!