Midfielder D’Sean Theobalds has been given a chance to earn a deal with National League South leaders Dartford.

Theobalds made an unexpected debut in Saturday’s goalless draw with Oxford City, coming off the bench in the first 20 minutes following an injury to Luke Allen.

The former Tonbridge man has been training with Dartford but boss Steve King was not anticipating seeing him in action until forthcoming cup matches against Cockfosters and Whitstable.

With Noor Husin on international duty and Danny Leonard ruled out by illness, Theobalds was called upon when Allen was forced off.

“He came on and I thought he did ever so well considering he hasn’t played a competitive game for months,” said King.

“He's been training with us for a while, we had to wait for international clearance to come.

“Our thought was to look at him in a couple of cup games and then make a decision on him.

“I think he did ever so well for someone who hasn’t played for three months and hasn’t played with the group before.

“He’s athletic, runs, good on the ball. I liked him when he was at Tonbridge before and then he went away to Poland. We’ll monitor that situation in the next couple of weeks.”

Theobalds was a key performer for Tonbridge when they won promotion from the Isthmian Premier with a super play-off success at Met Police in 2019.

He scored a stunning goal to take that final to extra-time, and there is no doubting his ability, but Theobalds has failed to kick on since he saw his future overseas.

He signed a three-year deal with Polish side Korona Kielce but returned to Tonbridge in September 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic before going back to Poland.

King added: “These boys run away to a different country thinking the grass is greener and then they realise it isn’t.

“There’s a lot of red tape in other countries, a lot of pitfalls and things they don’t see.

“They just see that they are going to play in a Premier League abroad – they don’t see the bigger picture.”

• King: I couldn't have asked for any more

• Report: Dartford 0 Oxford City 0

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