TRANMERE’S hopes of bringing hotshot striker Jake Cassidy back to Prenton Park for a second loan spell are looking more remote than ever because Wolves manager Dean Saunders believes the teenager can score goals for his own team this season.
Cassidy notched 11 goals in 27 League One games to help Rovers’ surge to the top of the table during the first half of the campaign.
The youngster’s loan ended in early January and Tranmere were hopeful they would be able to negotiate a second term.
But Saunders, who took over as manager at Molineux in December, thinks Cassidy has a big future and can make a contribution to Wolves’ fight for Championship survival over the coming months.
Saunders said: “Jake is going to be a good player. I’ve worked with him now for three or four weeks and he can do most things. He’s got a lot of tools and I think he’s going to play his part for us this season.
“Unless we go out and get a couple of centre-forwards, he’s going to have to. ‘But he’s definitely got a goal in him, he can score all types of goals and it wouldn’t surprise me if he played on Saturday and scored a hat-trick. And it wouldn’t surprise me if he came off the bench and got a goal for us.”
Tranmere manager Ronnie Moore, who has been scouring the loan market for an experienced target man to strengthen the team’s promotion challenge in League One, is ready to hand teenager Cole Stockton the chance to lead the attack at Leyton Orient on Saturday
Moore says he is willing to give Stockton his chance on the strength of the 18 year-old’s encouraging performances in a succession of substitute appearances and occasional starts in his first season as a professional.
“We are trying to find an experienced, tall striker who can take the weight off the forward players who are not so physically strong – the likes of David Amoo and Michael O’Halloran,” Moore said.
“It may be Cole can do the job. Every time he has played he has done well. If I don’t get anyone in on loan, then Cole will start the game at Leyton Orient on Saturday.”
“For an 18-year-old he is strong and solid. He is still learning, still wet behind the years, but he is getting there.
“If I can’t sign a centre forward on loan then Cole has to grow up fast.
“There is a big future for Cole if he listens and takes on board what we’re trying to do for him.”
