Halifax manager Adam Lakeland says winger AJ Warburton will benefit from his three-month loan spell at National League North side Marine.
Warburton joined Town this summer from Northern Premier League West Division side Avro FC, and before that, played for Droylsden in the North West Counties Football League Division One South.
Warburton made his debut for Marine in their 1-0 defeat at South Shields on Saturday, and Lakeland feels his time there will be a vital part of his development.
“When we signed AJ, we knew he’s a player with great potential and he has done very well in pre-season, he’s not looked out of place in training,” Lakeland said.
“He’s performed reasonably well in some of the pre-season games he was involved in.
“But as a young player, stepping up from step four to step one is a massive jump and so we felt probably the best route for him in terms of continuing his development was to go to a good club in step two.
“Marine are that, they tick those boxes for us, they’ve given many good young players opportunities in the past.
“I’m sure they’ll look after him and it’ll give AJ that much-needed experience at step two, and he’ll continue to train with us on the days he’s not in with them.
“And he’s getting invaluable experience at a very competitive level of football, so if he can go there and do well, which I’ve no doubt he will, then it’ll only help when he comes back with us at some point.”
Lakeland said there were no new signings in the offing at the moment for Town, but that “plenty of conversations are being had” over possible loan players.
“It’s a tricky one because I do still feel like we need to add to the group, just to give us something a little bit different and to give us greater depth and options off the bench, and maybe that bit more versatility in terms of what systems we might be able to go with, more at the top end of the pitch than the bottom end,” he added.
“But we have got quite a lot of bodies, but we are still a bit thin on the ground in terms of numbers.
“That sounds like a contradiction, but with us having the injury to Flo in addition to Max, Will and Jo who we’re missing, Zak Emmerson building himself back up and the concussion to Charlie Hayes-Green, that’s half-a-dozen players unavailable.
“So we were in a position where we could barely name an 18.
“I think there are one or two who would benefit from going out and getting some minutes, before we can look at getting players through the door.”
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