Paul Holleran has announced that he has been able to add both Checkaine Steele and Anthony Dwyer to his squad as Brakes enter the final week of pre season.

Steele has featured in all four of Leamington’s friendly fixtures so far and has been heavily involved in both creating and scoring goals in the two wins and two draws, netting a penalty against Racing Club Warwick and scoring the third at Bedworth, while Dwyer was introduced in the 3-0 win at The Oval, scoring the opening goal, and has also impressed.

‘We have reached agreeement with both Chekaine and Anthony and both have been added to the squad,’ said the manager.

Checkaine was a good player at this level for Worcester City a couple of seasons ago and has good experience but he has had a few setbacks with injuries. However he has been with us since the beginning of pre season and is fully fit and raring to go, which is evident with the impact he has made in our games so far.'

The 21 year old signed for AFC Telford United last summer after spending the 2016/17 campaign with Worcester following his release from Port Vale, but left without making an appearance as he was plagued by injury problems, moving on to Hednesford Town before spending the second half of the season at Sutton Coldfield Town.

‘Anthony was a player that we enquired about last season, he became available in the last couple of weeks, so we’ve been able to take a look at him in the last two games and he has done well. Both lads bring something different to the squad and will give us more strength in depth.’

Anthony also started last season with Telford, scoring twice against us in a 3-0 win for the Bucks at the Phillips 66 Community Stadium in late August. He followed a similar path to Steele in moving on to Hednesford in March before signing for Altrincham in the close season, but a change in his personal circumstances saw him leave the newly promoted club, and Holleran made his move.

The 21 year old came through the ranks at Mansfield Town and has also played for Stafford Rangers, Matlock Town and Ilkeston.

The manager also explained why Liam Canavan has not been seen during pre season. ‘The reason Liam has not been involved at all during pre season is that he has been relocated with his job, and is down near Bournemouth at the moment. This is something we will have to work with as we go along, but he will not be involved with us for the foreseeable future.’

We would like to welcome Chekaine and Anthony to Leamington FC, and hope to see Liam back with us at some point too.