Slough Town signing Edon Pruti hoping to fill Hollis' boots

New signing Edon Pruti was given his first taste of first team action on Saturday, after signing from Hanwell Town, and joint manager Jon Underwood hopes the Rebels can freshen things up further with the addition of a couple more signings.

Pruti, a tall left-footed centre back who came through the Burnley academy and has represented Albania at u18s and u19s level has been signed as a replacement for Guy Hollis, who's departed for Havant & Waterlooville.

Underwood is excited about Pruti's prospects, with the player gaining glowing reports for his performances for Hanwell, however, he added it's a blow to lose Hollis midway through the season, particularly given the fine form he's been in of late.

Mark Nisbet has come in to replace Hollis in recent matches, but Pruti will have the opportunity to stake his claim in the coming weeks.

“It’s a blow losing Guy,” he said. “He’s been excellent for us these past couple of months and he has that aggression and pace you need. We’ve also joked about losing his long throw. We’ve had a few try it, but they’re not quite as long or dangerous. But it’s the defensive side of the game where we’ll miss him most. We’ve signed a centre half (Pruti), a young lad who’s been playing at a lower level but has come through Burnley’s academy.

“He is a big, strong lad, aggressive with a good left foot. We got him on the pitch on Saturday and we like the look of him. Tall, left-footed centre halves are not easy to come by, and we’re looking to see if we can do one or two other things to strengthen us and push on.”

The Rebels struggled to get themselves going in Saturday's 1-0 defeat at St Albans City and, although it wasn't a terrible performance, they struggled to carve out chances on a difficult surface.

“In terms of the game, it was disappointing,” said Underwood. “I felt that we really struggled early on with the pitch and it’s something we’ve spoken about. We’ve been good at Arbour Park but went about three months without playing on grass. It was a difficult surface to play on, it was a scrappy game, but they handled it a bit better.

“The game was low on quality, but we had one really big chance for Aaron Kuhl. He’s chipped the goalkeeper who said afterwards he’d given up on it because he thought it was in, but the strong wind has just helped it drift past the post.

“If you get in front in these scrappy games, it’s easier to kill the game and make it even scrappier.

“We weren’t terrible, but we came up a bit short and we didn’t have enough unfortunately.”