New Apprentice Recruits

YOUNG Pilgrims Finley Craske, Rhys Shirley and Alfie Wotton have signed full-time apprenticeships at the club.

After what had been an injury hit season for Finley, he was delighted to sign this week.

He said: “I had been waiting a while, a lot of work has gone into it, and it’s a privilege [to sign the contract]. I have had a lot of injuries, so it was great to put all that behind me and move on.”

Striker Rhys Shirley feels that he has had a good first year, having been involved with the under-18 squad he is due to join, and he has also sampled some action with the 16s.

Ryhs said: “I am very excited, it was a while ago [that I found out I would be offered a deal]. We had a chat with Kevin Hodges [Academy Director] and Phil Stokes [Academy Manager] and they said they would like to offer me a contract. I felt I fitted in well and that I have played reasonably well too.”

Defender Alfie, son of former player and assistant manager Paul Wotton, was “buzzing” to have signed on.

“I had played some under-18 games this year, and that step up was difficult, you could see the difference,” said Alfie.

It is inevitable that, at some point, the youngster will be likened to his father. However, those comparisons did not seem to worry the youngster.

“Obviously, I do look up to my dad, he has helped me so much, but I do not feel any pressure [because of what he did],” said Alfie. “I just want to play my own game and play consistently, week in week out.”