Hampton's Dev uncertain over Cooke

4:47pm Monday 11th August 2008

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Former Aston Villa youngster Stephen Cooke faces a nervous wait over his future after Hampton & Richmond Borough boss Alan Devonshire admitted he was yet to be convinced by the midfielder.

The 25-year-old starred in last week’s friendly against Leatherhead and could be an ideal replacement for the injured Francis Quarm - who is expected to be sidelined for another three weeks.

Devonshire is still weighing up a move for the former AFC Bournemouth man after he failed to sign ahead of the Blue Square South kick-off at the weekend, which saw the Beavers draw 1-1 at Basingstoke Town.

And the Beveree manager reckons the jury is still out with Barrie Matthews expected to return to the midfield ranks next week following the completion of a three-match suspension.

“I’m still thinking about bringing Stephen in, but it has got to be right for him and for the club,” he said.

“I’ll be looking at him again this week but it is a decision I have got to make in the next ten days or so because it is not fair to keep him hanging on.

“He hasn’t signed for us yet. I am still looking at how the situation develops in the centre of the park.”

Hampton hit man Lawrence Yaku got his campaign off and running with his first strike of the season as the Beavers came back from a goal down to secure a share of the spoils on Saturday.

Profligacy in-front of goal cost the league’s leading scorers in last year’s play-off final against Eastbourne Borough and they had enough chances to take all three-points at the weekend.

But Devonshire is not bothered by his side’s shots-to-goals ratio ahead of Saturday’s visit of Weston-Super-Mare and reckons it is only a matter of time before the goals start flowing again.

“We dominated the game and created plenty of chances at the weekend and at one stage it looked like it would be one of those days,” he added.

“You need a little bit of luck in front of goal and we are due some.

“There weren’t many games where we didn’t score goals last year. I think the play-off final happened to be pretty much the only one.

“It is not something that concerns me at the moment. I’d be more worried if we weren’t creating chances, but we are and it won’t be long before we start winning games.”