Cherries: Smith rejoins Bishop's Stortford

01 September 2009 07:00
CHERRIES boss Eddie Howe has left the door open for teenage striker Lewis Smith to return to Dean Court. Smith was offered terms by Howe and was expected to complete the signing formalities once the clubs transfer embargo had been relaxed. But the 19-year-olds hopes of joining Cherries were dashed when the club failed in its latest bid to get the ban overturned a week ago. And after learning the news, Smith, who had been training with Howes squad since the start of pre-season, opted to rejoin Conference South outfit Bishops Stortford. Smith marked his return by netting a first-half wonder goal in the Blues 2-0 defeat of Hertfordshire neighbours St Albans on Saturday. His goal came just days after he had plundered a clinical 22-minute hat-trick during Cherries 7-0 win over Football Combination rivals Salisbury. Howe told the Daily Echo: Lewis has signed for Bishops Stortford on a game-to-game basis and Im hopeful he can continue to play for them and train with us. Whats happened with Lewis is a real shame because we really wanted to take him and think hes got a lot of potential. Hes fixed himself up with Bishops Stortford where he did very well at the end of last season. Theyve taken him straight back so that shows what they think of him. Well have to wait and see what happens with Lewis. We would still like to maybe do something but the choice will be with Lewis and what he decides to do.

Source: Bournemouth_Echo