STEVENAGE new boy pleased to be getting first team football

The 23-year-old striker found it difficult to break into Gus Poyet’s first team at the Withdean Stadium but, after scoring four goals in his first two games for Graham Westley’s team – including a hat-trick against Hereford United on Tuesday night – Holroyd is delighted to have taken up the offer of the three-moth loan move to the Lamex Stadium.

The club is also doing its bit to help him settle in as best as possible by paying for him to stay in a hotel a few nights a week.

“It was obviously great for me as a striker to come to a new club and start well and to win two away games after not doing so beforehand is great and hopefully we can push on from here,” Holroyd told The Comet.

The former Cambridge man, who scored 23 goals in 68 appearances for the U’s before his move to Brighton in January, was first made aware of the deal last Wednesday after featuring for Brighton’s reserve team against Crystal Palace and after speaking with Boro manager Westley the following morning, Holroyd was convinced that a move to Hertfordshire was firmly in his best interests.

“The way he said that the team had been creating a lot of chances and it was just that final bit that was missing was good to hear for me as a striker,” added Holroyd.

“Just from experience and from what I’ve noticed they are a really good side. I’ve settled in really quickly which really helps and I’ve been really impressed with the quality here and there are really good players who aren’t currently playing and that shows how good the squad is. We try and play good football but we also have that aggressiveness which is a good thing to have.

“A lot of teams come up and are happy to just stay up but the at Stevenage the mentality is that we are not here just to make up the numbers and we deserve to be fighting at the top end of the table.”

Holroyd admits to being frustrated at the lack of opportunities afforded to him at Brighton since his �60,000 transfer from Cambridge and judging by his blistering start to life in a Boro shirt – it’s clear that Brighton’s loss is certainly Stevenage’s gain.

While admitting he is not thinking past December 26 when his loan deal comes to an end, he feels strongly that Westley’s team have more than enough quality to be challenging at the top end of League 2.

“Sometimes you go somewhere and for some reason or another it just doesn’t come together and it’s been a bit of a battle for me. I didn’t want to just stew and I wanted to get out there and play football,” said Holroyd.

“You want to play as higher standard as you can but whose to say that Stevenage can’t go up when looking at teams such as Dagenham & Redbridge have done it in the past.”

Holroyd is in line to make his home debut against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday and Tuesday’s hat-trick hero is bound to get a warm welcome from the Boro faithful.