Assistant manager says first year professionals can all have an impact if they work hard at it.

Lee Bell says he is delighted that the club have signed eight young players to professional deals and that he hopes all of them will go on to have an impact at first team level over the next couple of seasons.

The likes of Zac Williams, Connor O’Riordan, Joel Tabiner, Sean Lawton and Lewis Billington have already made their mark at senior level and the club’s assistant manager says there is potential there for others to follow.

Bell told the club’s official website: “It’s brilliant news and they are a talented group. There is some real talent there and obviously they will have different pathways and they will have to all improve. It’s a good group and some may take longer than others to come through or they may have a spell out on loan.

“We will do what is best for them all moving forward and the fans should be excited about the future because it is a talented crop. They all have ability and now have to work hard to get in and around it and hopefully we will see them flourish over the next couple of seasons.

“My message is clear to any player, young or old. You have to be playing games. That is what you want to look back on when you finish playing. You will think about how many games you played, the big games and you remember certain games.

Lee added: “You career goes in a flash and you don’t want to finish without playing many games. I get the other side of it as well and what it can bring you but if you work hard here, keep your head down and play games then you get the rewards from that later on.”