Hebburn Town FC run the rule over former Sunderland academy striker
There was a familiar face in the Hebburn Town squad for their pre-season friendly draw with Gateshead on Tuesday night.
Former Sunderland academy striker Jake Waters has returned to former loan club Hebburn Town FC on trial - but the young forward has been warned the National League North newcomers can not wait for a decision over his future.
Waters joined the Hornets midway through last season as they pushed for the Northern Premier League Premier Division title after coming through two cruel ACL injuries that hampered his progress during his time at the Academy of Light. The youngster marked his Hebburn debut in some style as he came off the bench to score twice in a 3-0 home win against Stocksbridge Park Steels and was part of the squad that secured a historic promotion into the second tier of the non-league game by seeing off FC United of Manchester and Hednesford Town in a thrilling three-horse title race.
Waters returned to Sunderland at the end of the campaign - but he was one of several youth products that were released by the club when their contracts came to a close last month. The 20-year-old is still looking for a new club and he appeared for Hebburn in a pre-season friendly against Lee Cattermole’s Gateshead on Tuesday night - and Hornets manager Daniel Moore has admitted he can’t wait for a decision over Waters’ future as the former Academy of Light product looks to remain in full-time professional football.
He told The Gazette: “We have just been helping Jake out - but he wants to stay in full-time football and whether that works out for him, we will wait and see. I’ve told him that we can’t wait because we still have work to do ourselves - but I understand where he is at in his career. We’ve built a reputation of offering young players a platform here and we can do that with him too. There are only so many you can take to make sure that fits within our budget but it’s up to Jake. If it was right, we will see what happens - but I think he has aspirations of staying full-time.”
Waters could be handed nother chance to impress when Hebburn travel to Morpeth Town for their latest pre-season friendly on Saturday (2pm kick-offf).
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