'One of the best prospects for his age I've seen' - But Bognor boss weighing up Portsmouth youngster's first-team future

The Blues are keen for the highly-regarded keeper’s encouraging development to include regular first-team football this season.

He is presently at Nyewood Lane on loan until January – and started their opening nine matches.

However, Steward has recently made way for Myles Bowman, a goalkeeper formerly with QPR, Basingstoke and Met Police.

Bowman started the Rocks’ last two matches, including Saturday’s impressive 3-0 win over Wingate & Finchley, with Steward dropping to the bench.

And Blake admits the 17-year-old Pompey keeper may currently have to take a back seat for the Isthmian Premier Division side.

He told The News: ‘We have a lad at the club, he has been patient for a while, and we know Toby’s will go back to bigger and better things at Pompey.

‘We need to understand whether the keeper we have (Bowman) is going to be good enough – and we need to give him a number of games just to make sure.

‘I have spoken to Danny and I have spoken to Toby. It’s a footballing decision, not a personal decision saying Toby hasn’t done well, because he has. He has done very well.

‘But, from our point of view, we have to find out whether Myles is going to be our goalkeeper.

‘Toby has such a great future ahead of him, he has a fantastic demeanour and is one of the best prospects for his age that I have seen.

‘With Myles it’s just about having that decision of whether he’s going to be our goalkeeper or not, we need to find out while we’ve got the kid in.

‘Don’t get me wrong, Toby was already here before Myles came in fully, so Myles has had to be patient and we need to make that decision.

‘It’s not about Toby, it’s about his education and going forward and impressing. He will feel so much better about having these games so far and there’s more to come from him.

‘We need to make the decision on Myles and then we’ll go from there. Hopefully for everyone it’s a win, win.’

Steward, a second-year scholar, signed professional terms for the Blues on his 17th birthday in February.

He appeared as a regular substitute during pre-season, including accompanying Danny Cowley’s squad on their Spanish training camp.

Blake added: ‘Possibly Toby could be called back (by Pompey), we will review that, I will speak to Danny about that.

‘He’s such a great lad and understands, it’s not a personal decision to leave him out.

‘We have to look ahead because Toby’s not going to be our goalkeeper, that’s a fact, but we know what we’ve got whether it’s going to be good enough.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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