Bradley Pritchard says his expiring contract at parent club Leyton Orient influenced his decision to join Stevenage on a temporary basis.

The 30-year-old Zimbabwean signed a one-month loan deal at Boro on Tuesday and goes straight into the squad for tomorrow’s (Friday) game at promotion-chasing Oxford United.

Pritchard has played 33 times for fellow League Two outfit Orient this season but has been on the fringes of the squad since Kevin Nolan’s appointment as manager back in January leaving him to weigh up his choices before his contract runs out this summer.

Pritchard said: “At the end of the season I will have to re-assess my options.

“It may well be that I’ll have to move on and if so I’ll have to cross that bridge when I come to it. Certainly that’s one of the reasons to go out and play games.

“When I got the call [from Stevenage] I was interested and just being out there and playing with these guys, I think I’ve made the right decision.”

He added: “Maybe the chance to get another contract is not financial but for my own piece of mind because as a footballer you always have to prove yourself so maybe it is just to say I don’t want the end of the season to peter out for me.

“I want to go and fight for something, I want to enjoy playing football and I want to feel like I’m making a difference.”

The former Charlton Athletic midfielder believes a key characteristic of a successful League Two side lies in being difficult to beat, a habit that Stevenage need to re-master after a sticky patch.

Darren Sarll’s men have lost their last five matches, scoring only two goals in those encounters, leaving them just one place above the dotted line of the relegation zone.

He continued: “Oxford will be tough but we’ve got nine games so we’re going to play against teams who are either fighting for promotion or in a relegation battle but it’s almost irrelevant.

“We’re going to go out there and we know how we want to play and hopefully we can get the result that we want.

“Whether it’s Oxford or Luton Town, there’s no easy games at this stage of the season.”