Sheppey United player-manager Jack Midson hopes the addition of a Premier League level coach on the sidelines can become a permanent one.

Chris McGinn has worked at several top-flight academies and currently has a role at Chelsea where he helps to develop the coaching staff there.

He was on the touchline for Sheppey's weekend match, having taken a training session in the week and worked with the players again last night (Tuesday). Midson - who scored the winner against East Grinstead on Saturday - is currently looking for an assistant and believes McGinn is the ideal candidate for the role.

Midson said: “He has worked with some top players in the Premier League. He has that experience and he has been a manager in non-league as well. He has seen both sides of it.

“I have been recommended him a few times. I needed an assistant but didn’t want to rush into anything. We have Craig Coles who is a fantastic coach and I want him to keep doing that, Chris is that older head that we need.

“At the weekend he tweaked a couple of things and it made me relax a bit more and I could concentrate on my own performance while Craig was happy to have that support. I wasn’t out there feeling guilty that I was on the pitch and leaving someone on their own (to coach).

“Hopefully we can do that on a permanent basis. I didn’t want to rush into the wrong person. He seems like the right fit at the moment. He was happy, he likes the level of detail that we are trying to go to and he can just offer that extra bit that we need at this level now to push on and for me to be able to be on the pitch, rather than on the side.”

Midson not only takes the first team but also coaches the club’s youngest players through his academy. Having another experienced head will be a great help, he said.

“He can really influence the young lads coming through,” Midson said. “Us old dogs are harder to coach!

“When I first came in I wanted to develop these children and get them into young adults, into the 18s and 23s, and we have started to filter them in and what a perfect person for Chris to also work with them and coach them in their young careers, a person who has and still does work in Premier League academies.”

Midson’s goal against East Grinstead on Saturday secured a 1-0 win. He was in the right place to convert a cross from new signing Rodney Adamon Eruotor.

The newcomer is no stranger to Sheppey, playing for them in pre-season before he went to Herne Bay to try and win a deal at a higher level.

“It didn’t work for him there but I was more than happy to take him back,” Midson said.

“He put it on a plate but, without blowing my own trumpet, it is about being in the right place at the right time, just a bit of experience to get some tap-ins.”

The clean-sheet was much needed and Midson praised the impact of Gillingham teenager Sam Gale for his role, claiming the man-of-the-match award for his performance.

“He is a good little player,” said the Sheppey boss. “I have wanted to play him in the holding midfield position, that is where I signed him to play, the last game Dan Birch was suspended and so I pushed Lekan (Majoyegbe) out on the right and moved Sam to centre-back.

“I pretty much had him back in the holding position (against East Grinstead) and for us was probably our best player in there. Everyone played well but he reads the game so well for a young lad and he stepped up, made some great tackles and probably started off most of our attacks from nicking the ball. He has a bright future.”

Midson revealed that he has also signed left-back Frankie Morgan, who had previously been at Corinthian and Herne Bay before trying his luck at Margate. He wasn't available at the weekend.

"We didn't quite get him done in time for Saturday," the manager explained. "It was something minor, the seven-day permission needed to be a pdf document rather than email it’s a bit finicky, but if they are the rules then they are the rules. We've now got him available."

Morgan will have to be patient, however. Sheppey now have a free weekend. They return to action next Tuesday (September 27) with a home game against Cray Wanderers in the DFDS Kent Senior Cup.