Moneyfields manager Glenn Turnbull recruits striker Andy Todd from former club US Portsmouth on short-term basis

Moneys boss Glenn Turnbull has raided former club US Portsmouth to bring in Todd on a short-term basis.

Turnbull says the former USP forward will provide a perfect 'stop-gap' to fill in for the currently injured strike trio of Steve Hutchings, Tyler Moret and Michael Dark before he heads off to Plymouth for naval commitments at the end of next month.

Todd worked under Turnbull in each of the past two coronavirus pandemic shortened seasons at US Portsmouth, netting 17 goals in 29 club appearances.

And Moneyfields manager Turnbull believes his new strike recruit will provide the perfect foil for attacking options James Franklyn, Dec Seiden and Fred Penfold in the absence of talisman Hutchings.

‘We’ve gone back in for Sweeney (Andy Todd) and we’ve signed Sweeney as a stop-gap, really, for us,' said Tunrbull.

‘We done a bit of checking and we noticed he hadn’t been in the squad (at US Portsmouth) for the past few games so we tentatively asked. As ever, Gricey (Tom Grice; USP manager) was brilliant, I can only thank him really, he was brilliant.

‘The timings sit really perfectly. We’re hopeful there will be a couple of games where we can fit Steve (Hutchings) in without putting pressure on him.

‘We’re hopeful Steve might be back, it’s probably a stretch to think anywhere up to probably the Horndean game (September 7), that would be a stretch. It takes the pressure off Steve to be available from October onwards.

‘No disrespect to Fred (Penfold), Dec (Seiden) or Franko (James Franklyn), but I just thought we were light there.

‘Dec and Franko play better when they’ve got that focal point so I didn’t think it was any real surprise they weren’t firing on all cylinders (against AFC Stoneham).’

Todd has not been involved in either of US Portsmouth's opening two games this term, while he featured in just one pre-season friendly for the club.

But Turnbull will be hoping he can hit the ground running ahead of what he sees as a 'tough run' of fixtures.

Blackfield's visit to Dover Road this weekend is followed by matches against Baffins Milton Rovers, Horndean, Brockenhurst (twice) and Turnbull's former side US Portsmouth in the upcoming 10 games.

The Moneys boss added: ‘They’re a good side as well (Blackfield & Langley). We go on a tough run now - I say a tough run - someone asked me to pick a top six and I got to eight and I couldn’t start to distill that eight down, really, before I got into anything else.

‘We’ve got, of that eight that I picked, we had AFC Stoneham, we’ve got Blackfield, we’ve got Horndean, and then we’ve got Brockenhurst twice.

‘Pretty much, right the way through August and September, obviously the last game of September is the well awaited derby versus US which could go either way, so we go on a really tough run and Blackfield is just the start of that.’

Along with the strike trio of Hutchings (ankle), Moret (meniscus) and Dark (quad) all still out, both Brandon Rogers and Olly Long (groin) also remain sidelined ahead of Blackfield's league visit.