Abbey Vale’s Tommy Goss has been handed the chance to earn a contract with Queen of the South.
The prolific striker has joined the Palmerston club’s reserve side for the rest of the season to allow reserve team boss Willie Gibson to have a closer look at him.
And if he impresses it could lead to a longer-term deal with the Championship outfit.
But he’ll also continue to play for Vale, having re-joined the Maryfield Park side on loan until the end of the season.
Vale co-manager, Allan Clark, said: “We played them two weeks ago in a friendly. They gave us a young boy on loan and we’re hopeful of getting another. However, they liked the look of big Tommy and want to take a look at him.
“It’s an opportunity he couldn’t really turn down and we weren’t going to stand in his way.
“To his credit, he wanted to keep playing for Abbey Vale as well, so he’s going to continue playing for us and he has about eight games for them.”
Goss marked his big move by hitting four goals against Upper Annandale in the South of Scotland Challenge Cup on Saturday as Vale recorded a comfortable 7-0 win.
Craig Kerr opened the scoring and a double from Goss had Vale well in control at the break.
The forward completed his hat-trick after the break with Adam Kirk heading in the fifth.
Robbie Ferguson got the sixth with Goss rounding off the scoring.
The game also saw appearances from new signing Callum Summerbee, who has had spells on the books at both Queens and Hearts, and a return for former Vale player Struan Parker.
Clark said: “Struan hadn’t been playing for Heston as much as he would have liked due to work and other reasons so we’re happy to have him back.
“We’re also delighted to have Callum signed up. He left Queens in the summer and he came on as well.”
Vale have also been boosted with the news Liam Douglas’ loan spell from Queens has been extended to the summer.
