Declan Devine 'delighted' to clinch signing of Colchester United striker

Derry City boss, Declan Devine has added Cochester United striker, Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe to his squad.

DECLAN Devine has added another striker to his Derry City squad ahead of next week's Airtricity League kick-off as Colchester United striker, Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe joins the club on a six month loan deal.

The club has finally received international clearance for the 24 year-old Nigerian who netted a brace of goals in Tuesday night's 8-0 thrashing of Ballinamallard United at Ferney Park.

Ogedi-Uzokwe met up with the Candy Stripes for last week’s pre-season trip to the Isle of Man and started in the 2-0 win over the Isle of Man F.A. Select at the Bowl in Douglas and it seems the player did enough to impress City supremo, Devine.

And Devine was 'delighted' to get the deal over the line.

"I'm absolutely delighted to get him on board. He came to the Isle of Man with us last week. We've had an agreement with Colchester who have been fantastic to deal with. He's played 30 odd games in League Two. He's been a prolific goalscorer in Non-League in the Conference. So he comes here on a six month loan and he has certainly hit the ground running in the two games he's played.

"He scored two against Ballinamallard and he was very good against Isle of Man out there. So he is a player that has very much been a work in progress over the last couple of days but the boy himself was eager to come here and Colchester were very eager to get him here to get match experience and he's been very impressive every time we've seen him train and play."

The striker has featured in two of Colchester’s under-23 games this season in the Professional Development League following the conclusion of his loan spell at Bromley FC in the Vanarama National League where he scored six goals in 25 matches.

In January 2018, Ogedi-Uzokwe joined Colchester United from Bostik North side Maldon & Tiptree, for whom he scored an impressive 34 goals in 34 appearances.

A former Leyton Orient and Millwall FC youth player, he previously had a spell playing in Cyprus and represented Carlton Town, Enfield Town, FC Barkingside, Hayes & Yeading and Lewes.

His signing takes Devine's squad to 19 and he's not finished yet!

When we came in we had four signed players but we're now up to 19 so it's certainly competition for places. We would like another one in, possibly two and then add to that the youth players that have been so impressive in pre-season. We always wanted competition for place and I think we've added a lot of talent, a lot of quality but there's still work to be done."