Kingstonian assistant manager Gary Abbott has revealed that the Blues have not offered a contract to their 19-year-old midfielder Dan Sweeney, who has been on trial at Playford Road for much of the last fortnight.

Abbott, who similarly interested bigger clubs while a striker in non-league during his playing days, told the Kingston Guardian that Sweeney needs to stay focused on playing for the Ryman League Premier Division side.

“I’ve been through the same thing. I know exactly how he feels and I felt sorry for him," he said.

“He played a game at Ipswich last Wednesday and was the best player on the pitch by all accounts, but they weren’t prepared to offer him a contract.

“I was at Charlton, Gillingham, Cardiff as a youngster. I went here, there and everywhere to try and make it. When it doesn’t work out, it is hard to come back and concentrate for your club. It is always in the back of your mind.

“He has been our best player in midfield this year. His time will come. Someone will take a gamble on him.

“There are still a couple of clubs looking at him, but he has got to be eight out of 10 for us week in, week out if he is going to get somewhere.”

Sweeney, who was released by AFC Wimbledon having made one senior appearance last season, also played the full 90 minutes of Tuesday’s 3-0 U21s defeat at Millwall.

Photo: Action Images

JimmyJazz added 09:32 - Oct 11 Anyone who saw the game would you concur that he was the best player on the pitch, or one of the best? Or is that his manager providing some good man management and rebuilding his confidence?
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MattinLondon added 10:29 - Oct 11 MM has proven that he is willing to take a gamble on non-league players —and if he isn't better than what we have in the U-21s then guess there is little point in offering a contract. Best of luck to him for his career.
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mikeybloo88 added 10:46 - Oct 11 He must be bad if he isn't better than some of our lot
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Michael11 added 11:17 - Oct 11 This just sounds like he's trying to give his player confidence because he'll be upset about it. If he was the best player on the pitch then i doubt we would have said no to at least another trial.
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bluelady added 12:03 - Oct 11 From what I remember of Phil's match report he didn't have any significant impact so not surprising
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timmy2guns added 12:10 - Oct 11 Note - Gary Abbott is Kingstonian's Assistant Manager. Alan Dowson is the manager.
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MaySixth added 15:00 - Oct 11 I was at the game against Millwall and sat right behind Martin Tyler who is a coach at Kingstonian. Basically Tyler will of reported back to Abbot on this. Sweeney was no better than any other Ipswich player in an awful team performance. He didn't do anything wrong apart from one badly misplaced pass in the second half. He didn't really do anything that progressive though in the 90 minutes and did seem to like the simple pass too much for me. Bear in mind this was a dreadful Ipswich performance and Sweeney would probably get a 5/10 mark overall.

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MaySixth added 15:02 - Oct 11 Martin Tyler was also telling me that they subbed Sweeney off at half time in Kingstonian's last game against Billericay as he was so poor. Tyler was alluding he could of had his head turned after a few days on trial at Ipswich or could of just been knackered. Who knows. Let's see how Sweeney gets on over the next few weeks with Kingstonian - he will clearly be smarting.

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