Craig Armstrong - why is he playing for Quorn?

[leicester pilgrim]

I watched Quorn versus Grantham Town in the EvoStik League Cup tonight. It was a local game for me and obviously there is a little bit of BUFC interest with Laurie Dudfield having just become player-manager of Quorn. There was however one unexpected Boston connection in the Quorn side tonight - our new signing Craig Armstrong played centre-half!

From the Boston United website only yesterday, our managers were supposed to be having a look at Armstrong in a "behind closed doors" friendly for Boston tonight. Except he didn't play for Boston tonight, it wasn't behind closed doors, it wasn't a friendly and I'm pretty sure our managers weren't watching. So plans must have changed somewhere along the way.

I overheard a conversation between the Quorn press officer and one of their supporters. The supporter was asking who the number five was, and the Quorn press officer replied that he was "Quorn's new signing from Eastwood." No mention of Boston United.

No doubt the truth will come out in terms of Armstrong's connection to Quorn. Is he dual-registed with us and them? Have we loaned him out to them? Or has he had a change of mind and signed for them instead of us? Hopefully the position will become clearer.

To cap it all tonight's match went to extra time with Armstrong playing the full 120-minutes - probably not the ideal preparation for a 36-year-old ahead of our game on Saturday. If he is still our player and if we do need to call upon him then he could well be tired.

For what it is worth I thought Armstrong had a good game for Quorn. He was vocal in telling the younger defenders around him what to do, and his positional play was good. Quorn have shipped a lot of goals this season, but they looked more solid with him in the side. It was 0-0 at full-time and 3-0 to Quorn after extra time.

Laurie Dudfield played for Quorn but was substituted after about an hour. Steve Melton started the game for Grantham but was substituted around the same time. Rob Norris came on as a late substitute for Grantham.

[Lord Cutler Knobhead]

Craigs just tweeted that it's all above board and 'suited both parties'

[Bostonshire]

Dudfeilds sos was answere  by JL, He needed a player and we had one  that needed games for fitness

[Dave H]

I shouldn't think he expected to get a two hour run out ! Hope he's not cream crackered for Saturday,  good job we have a fitness coach to oversee such issues. 
Incidentally I went to see Quorn narrowly beat Loughborough Uni 2-1 in the FA Cup and Lawrie will have his work cut as they were poor in most areas , how Loughborough Uni didn't win the game I'll never know.
Let's hope we put a decent shift in, this Saturday and get the £4500 prize money, as Kidsgrove are in the same league as Quorn and the previous time I was at the ground was watching us being dumped out of the FA Trophy to a vegetarian sausage.

[leicester pilgrim]

Quorn were away at King's Lynn Town today in the FA Cup, and I've just read the match report on the King's Lynn website. It seems Craig Armstrong also played for Quorn today!

I can see the reasoning why he was allowed to play as a favour for Quorn in an EvoStik Challenge Cup in midweek, as that competition meant nothing to Boston United. But given that he's also now played for Quorn in the FA Cup, he will now be cup tied and therefore unable to represent us in any of the later stages of the competition this season.

For as long as we remain in the FA Cup, I don't personally understand the sense of allowing one of our players to become cup-tied by representing another team. With the injury to Tom Ward today, Craig Armstrong would have been the ideal player to bring in as cover on the bench. He can fill in as a direct replacement at centre half but can also play in a couple of other positions. But the decision to allow him to play for Quorn now rules that option out.

Armstrong must have signed some form of registration document with Quorn as well as ourselves in the same way that Millson is dual-registered with Boston United and Wisbech. With Millson, we have first call on whether or not we require his services. Given Armstrong's involvement at Quorn today, I wonder if they hold his primary registration?

Incidentally the match report indicates that Mikel Suarez made his debut for Quorn today, but Laurie Dudfield came on to replace him. King's Lynn won the tie 4-2. The attendance of 812 was only five short of the figure at York Street.

[Burton Pilgrim]

No surprise that's where Mikel has gone - I expected that after the announcement he had left

[truffleshuffle]

No surprise that's where Mikel has gone - I expected that after the announcement he had left

I thought he had got a job offer down sarth / struggling with work commitments

[green hats mate]

Looks like we are becoming Quorns nursery team.