5/8/2009 3:26:00 PM Trinidadian could make first start for Hogges
Former Soca Warrior Marlon Rojas could be in line for his Bermuda Hogges debut this weekend.
Club bosses were working to finalise the paperwork on his transfer last night in the hope that the midfield general could be included in the squad to face Richmond Kickers on Saturday night.
Rojas, who played in Trinidad's successful World Cup qualifying campaign, has been training with the Hogges since pre-season and would be a welcome addition to the line-up for tomorrow night's encounter with one of the league's strongest teams.
"I'm hoping that his signing has gone through today (Thursday) and he'll be able to play on Saturday night," said coach Kyle Lightbourne yesterday.
"He'll definitely be available for next week if not for Saturday," added Lightbourne who will also have utility man Michael Parsons available this weekend, after the Boulevard man resigned for the Hogges earlier this week.
Dandy Town striker Raymond Beach - one of the favourites for the BFA's footballer of the year award - could also signed in time for next weekend's double header.
Lightbourne said the atmosphere in the squad was good after last weekend's morale boosting win over highly fancied Harrisburg.
"We should have good competition for places with the new guys coming in. The team spirit is coming together. They all love to train, they are putting in the work and we're hoping we can keep growing as a unit, stay positive and get the results on the pitch."
Lightbourne who has minor injury concerns over Domico Coddington, Antwan Russell and Omar Shakir ahead of Saturday's showdown with Richmond, believes his team will need to improve on their display against Harrisburg to get a result tomorrow.
Despite the victory he was not 100 per cent happy with the performance last week.
"It's going to be tough and we will have to play better than we did on Friday.
"I thought we just shaded that game on chances but I don't think we played particularly well.
"We stuck at it but we didn't pass the ball as well as we can. We didn't impose our style of play on them as much as I would have liked.
"It took us until the last 15 minutes to really get our game going and fortunately that was enough."
Winning games when not at your best is often said to be the mark of a strong team and Lightbourne admitted he was pleased to see his side grind out a result - something they haven't been able to do in previous seasons.
"It's definitely a good sign and I'm pleased we got the points but I'm hoping we can push on from this and start to play our own game and keep the ball a bit better.
"Richmond are one of the heavyweights and it will be a tough game for us but we need to keep picking up points."
The Hogges are in the midst of a streak of five home games and Lightbourne has targeted a 10-point haul from those matches before he takes the team back on the road.
"That's what we are looking for and I think that would put us in a decent position."
