STOURPORT Swifts hope to have Worcester City’s Sam Smith on board in time for this Saturday’s trip to Midland Alliance strugglers Continental Star.

The former Kidderminster Harriers and Stourbridge defender is set to join Rod Brown’s side on a short loan as he looks to recover his fitness after a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to injury.

His arrival would be a timely boost for Brown as he has injury doubts over two of his more experienced players.

Jamie Hyde picked up a calf strain in the 4-0 defeat of Heather St John last Saturday and is a doubt for the Star trip while Kevin Spencer’s knee injury will keep him out.

“It’s quite annoying because Jamie had just got into a run of games. I’ve spoken to Carl Heeley (Worcester manager) and I’m hoping Sam may come to us for four or five games. He’s a big strong lads with lots of experience and losing Jamie and Kevin being out leaves us short at the back.”

However, at the other end of the park Brown is delighted with how things are shaping up.

He was highly impressed with Worcester Academy star james Lemon who played behind the front two of John Griffin, who scored once, and two-goal Chris Morris.

“James Lemon, for an 18-year-old making a big step up to this level, had an exceptional game behind the front two.

“Earlier in the season we only had John (Griffin) getting goals but now we have Chris and James contributing.

“I’m not going to get carried away and we cartainly won’t be taking Star for granted. They have lost a few players and are struggling but you can only beat whats in front of you.

“We got the blend right against Heather and we’ll see if we can get it to work again and I would like for us to be good enough to put a run together and we’ll have to make sure the lads are on it and perform to the best of our ability.”