South Shields delight at landing Middlesbrough youngster on loan

South Shields manager Ian Watson has expressed his delighted at bringing a successful attempt to his prolonged efforts to sign Middlesbrough youngster Luke Woolston on loan.

The 20-year-old midfielder is yet to make his senior debut for Boro despite being named in a matchday squad for 13 Championship fixtures over the last two years - but has been a regular feature in Under-21s sides over that time. There were a whole host of EFL, National League, National League North and Scottish clubs that showed an interest in handing Woolston an opportunity to earn senior experience away from the Riverside Stadium throughout the summer and National League North leaders South Shields were on that list.

After being unsuccessful in their attempts to persuade Boro to authorise a loan deal for the youngster during the summer following Watson’s appointment as their new manager, the Mariners maintained contact with the Championship club and finally found a breakthrough when a deal was completed last week.

Woolston agreed to spend the next three months on loan at the 1st Cloud Arena and made his debut as a second-half substitute in Saturday’s FA Cup third qualifying round win against step two rivals Chorley as South Shields moved to within 90 minutes of securing a place in the first round proper of this season’s competition. Speaking after that win, Watson gave an insight into the attempts to take Woolston on loan and revealed just why he was so keen to land a deal for the young midfielder.

He said: “Luke is an unbelievable player and we tried to get him in when I first came into the club because we were fully aware of what he could offer us. We tried to get him in the first very week I was here when we were working on our recruitment really heavily. Understandably, Middlesbrough wanted to keep him because they were heading into pre-season and wanted him in and around the club and rightly so. They wanted to see if higher options came in for Luke and fortunately for us, those higher options weren’t something that suited Luke as well as we do.

“Fair play to Luke, he has chosen to come to a club with a playing style that he will look go in. He knows a couple of the boys and that will also help but I think he just wanted to come into a team that plays a certain style of football that he likes and that he likes being involved in. I have to pay credit to the chairman and sporting director for getting him in because Luke is an outstanding signing and he adds further strength to our group.”

Woolston could make his league debut for South Shields when they host National League North rivals Chorley on Saturday just seven days after sending the Magpies out of the FA Cup.