The 20-year-old front man has scored every time that he has appeared in a Southend shirt this season, with two in two reserve games followed up by a hat-trick against Swansea City last weekend and another headed goal at Scunthorpe United on Tuesday evening. However, despite Steve Tilson’s claims that Grays Athletic, from where the youngster is on loan, could let Eastwood go for a minimal fee, the saga looks set to linger.
In the Southend Evening Echo yesterday, Grays boss Mark Stimson revealed that he thought Tilson, like himself a former Southend and Canvey player, was deluding himself if the Conference South side would let the striker go for a small amount, and today, in the same publication, King has stated his intent to secure the speedy striker’s signature.
Talking to Gulls’ correspondent Dick Marshall, King declared, “When someone achieves what Eastwood has done over his first two games at Southend’s level it’s bound to alert a lot of other people”. He then added, “You could say we are monitoring the situation and that’s as far as it goes at this moment in time”, having previously disclosed that he had spoken to Latics director of football Mike Woodward about a move for the forward.
In forwarding his claims, King commented, “Obviously the player wants to make it at League level, but we play in the main division of the Conference, a grade higher than Grays, and we have to be interested when a player of his quality apparently becomes available”. The caravan park owner, who watched his Islanders side from the touchlines as they crashed out of the FA Cup to the Shrimpers at Park Lane last year, will be interested if Eastwood says that he wishes to leave the Recreation Ground side.
However, this news is unlikely to concern Tilson. Aside from Canvey being one of the most-hated non-League sides in recent history, the pull of the Nationwide Conference is unlikely to lure Eastwood, whatever wages they may offer to the former West Ham United scholar, especially since Coca-Cola League clubs such as Blues, Swindon Town and Northampton Town are falling over each other for his services.
Eastwood has shown his intent to play at the highest level possible in the past as he left Southend at 16 to pursue a career at the Boleyn Ground. Although he was forced to slip down the pyramid to Grays in order to gain a first-team place, trials at Premiership Charlton Athletic show that it remains teams from a higher division, and not lower like Canvey, that Shrimpers supporters should be worried about.
Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com