The youngster, who turned 21 at the weekend, netted twice in what was the last of his five matches on loan with the Shrimpers against Shrewsbury Town before returning to Grays Athletic on Thursday. However, with Tilson telling the club’s official website that a deal had been agreed with the Conference South outfit, it appears that Roots Hall will be the final destination for the front man.
The Shrimpers chief told www.southendunited.co.uk, “We are just trying to sort the transfer out with Freddy now – a fee has been agreed with Grays and now it’s just personal terms with him but we aren’t far away”. The 38-year-old confirmed, “The transfer fee isn’t an issue now; we just need to get Fred happy with the terms we are offering and the deal will be signed”.
Talking specifically on his performance against the Salop, which took the Basildon-based hot-shot’s personal tally to six, Tilson said, “Freddy Eastwood showed once again just why we are trying to bring him to this football club. His first goal was different class – he’s taken four on them poked it in the bottom corner. The second one he’s cut inside so quickly that he didn’t give their defenders the chance to get themselves set and it was a good finish”.
And whilst Eastwood has become a crowd favourite in the last few weeks, cult hero Drewe Broughton, who has scored just half of the Grays man’s League goals in ten times as many games with the Shrimpers, looks set to be returning to southeast Essex, despite impressing his loan club, Rushden & Diamonds, with a stunning hat-trick at the weekend in a 5-1 win over Notts County.
Speaking this time to the Southend Evening Echo, Tilson commented, “It was great for Drewe to get a hat-trick at the weekend. He went to Rushden to get some games and he will have shown a great attitude for them I’m sure”. But the Diamonds have not been quick to set about a more permanent deal, with the Wickford-born Southend Player of the Millennium concluding, “I haven’t heard anything from them so I am expecting him to come back to us after his loan spell ends this Saturday”.
Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com