Jonté Smith close to a deal with non-League Woking
Jonté Smith is on the verge of signing for Woking and could be included in Alan Dowson’s squad for the FA Trophy fourth-round tie away to Bromley next week.
Dowson hopes to land the out-of-contract Bermuda striker as cover for Josh Davison, whose loan spell from Charlton Athletic has expired, in time for the cup-tie between the Vanarama National League rivals at Hayes Lane.
“I’m looking at bringing in Jonté Smith because he’s fit again and I’m in talks and hoping to tie that up this week,” Dowson told In Your Area Sports.
Woking and Bromley recorded home wins over Dover Athletic (2-1) and Hemel Hempstead (2-0) respectively in the previous round last month.
Next week’s cup tie was originally scheduled to be played tomorrow, but was switched after Woking had a positive case of Covid-19 in the camp.
Meanwhile, Dowson has revealed that Smith, the former Crawley Town and Cheltenham Town striker, had been on his radar for some time.
“Jonté was the main one I was going after at the start of the season,” he said. “He had an ankle problem but now he’s fit again. He hasn’t got a club, so would be ours.”
Dowson added: “He’s scored for fun in the past. I’m looking at others, too, but there’s not much I can do because I can’t meet a player. I can only talk to them on the phone, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Smith, 26, was released by Sky Bet League Two side Cheltenham after his contract expired last June.
He was hurt in the first half of the play-off, semi-final second leg against Northampton Town, who overturned a three-goal, first-leg deficit to advance to the final at Wembley Stadium, where they beat Exeter City.
Woking are sitting a comfortable twelfth on 21 points in the National League, one place behind Justin Donawa’s Solihull Moors and two points outside the promotion play-off places.