Veteran striker Eugene Francis back to boost Hucknall Town

The Nottingham-born striker, who is 34 this month, has been signed from Radford and Graves said: “Eugene will be an extra body for us. He can play No.10 or up front and gives us options.

“Whether he is an out-and-out goalscorer remains to be seen, but he is hard-working and helps other players around him which fits with our ethos.

“Eugene has been around a few clubs. I think he is one of those lads who don't settle when usually they can find the best of their form by sticking with one club.

“Hopefully, we will try to get the best out of him. I don't think anyone has managed to do that yet. Hopefully we can.”

Francis, once tipped for a glittering career, was last with the Yellows back in 2013/14.

“This season he has been at Pinchbeck and also Radford,” said Graves.

“He played for us before and he was then one of the local lads in non-league football that looked like he could progress and do really well.

“But, for one reason or another, he's never fulfilled his full potential. I hope we can bring something out of him and he can help us as well.

“Hopefully the paperwork will have gone through okay so he can be involved this weekend.”

Graves is hoping he can still add another couple of faces.

“I am still hopeful of another striker, but that remains to be seen. It's proving a little bit more troublesome,” he said.

“Also, we were supposed to have had a goalkeeper coming in for training last Wednesday, but he never turned up. That's nothing unusual at this level.

“It's not dead yet, though, and something might happen this week.”

Hucknall ended up with a blank weekend last Saturday after their home clash with Gedling – along with the club's scheduled Race Night – was postponed due to the awful weather blown in by Storm Dennis.

“I am now hoping we can have a full scale game with our development squad to try to get some minutes into players, depending on the weather again,” he said.

“On Saturday it was looking bad about 9am, but we had to wait until 11 and go through the protocol before we could call it off.

“It was unfortunate we didn't play as we wanted to keep the momentum going. But we now have to start it again at Ingles on Saturday.”

Ingles are currently 13th in the East Midlands Counties League Premier Division, but Graves warned: “There are no easy games, even though they are below halfway in the table. That does not mean anything.

“We have already beaten them in the league, but they beat us after extra-time and penalties in the League Cup.

“When we played them they were a decent side who play football the right way. It will be tough, but if we're at our best, we'll be difficult to beat as well.”