Brentford under-21 goalkeeper Mark Smith has again agreed to lend a hand to Ryman League Premier Division side Hampton & Richmond Borough.
The talented 19-year shot-stopper from west London, who has already had a taste of first team football with the Bees in preparation for this season’s Sky Bet Championship League campaign, has joined the Beavers on a 28-day youth loan in a bid to bolster their quest for promotion to the National League South.
However, Smith is certainly no stranger to Hampton, after he duly accepted an SOS call last October (2014) to add some much-needed punch to the Beavers’ backline.
During that loan period, Smith’s performances earned him two Player of the Month awards in consecutive months; something that no goalkeeper has done in recent memory.
12 months’ on; and having signed a new one-year professional deal at Griffin Park in June 2015, Smith is returning to the non-league club to help out Borough boss Alan Dowson, plus rubber-stamp the great community relationship between both clubs.
Over the course of the next four weeks, Smith will continue to train with the Bees first team squad, but also come to the aid of Hampton to help boost their chances for automatic promotion come what April 2015.
Still fresh from the Bees’ 2-1 win against Bristol City U21s at Griffin Park on October 23, it will be another chance for Smith to showcase what he can do and to get some more games under his belt as he plays understudy to Bees’ current number one David Button.
Prior to accepting a short-term switch to Hampton, Smith had been the subject of a temporary move to two National League clubs last month, but both loan moves were reportedly thwarted by former Bees’ head coach Marinus Dijkhuizen, who said he wanted three goalkeepers fit and available to play for each Championship League fixture.
Now under the managerial guidance of Lee Carsley, Smith is certainly in save hands as the pair worked together during the Bees’ U21s campaign last season.
Carsley is also a manager who Smith has great admiration for: both as an ex-Evertonian, but also as a first class head coach.
Smith is expected to go straight into the starting 11 tomorrow when Hampton travel to Wingate & Finchley tomorrow, as the visitors look to leapfrog Dulwich Hamlet in the table.
