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Hotshot Jonte moving to a bigger club

Jonte Smith

Prolific striker Jonte Smith is to be loaned out to a “higher level club” in the near future, The Royal Gazette can reveal.The Bermudian’s extended loan spell with Ryman League Premier Division side Metropolitan Police expires later this week.Smith, who converted a penalty in Met Police’s 2-1 win against South Park in the second round of the Surrey Senior Cup last night, was initially loaned to the Blues for a month last August from parent club Crawley Town which was eventually extended.Crawley Town manager Richie Barker confirmed that the former North Village youth player would be leaving Met Police to join an undisclosed club playing in either the Conference National or Conference South on loan.“He has had three productive months with Met Police but the plan now is for Jonte to go on loan at a club higher up the non-league pyramid at Conference National or Conference South level to continue his development,” Barker told The Royal Gazette. “We hope to sort something out in the next few days.”Smith, son of former national cricket captain and selector Clay Smith, has enjoyed a highly productive loan spell with Met Police where he is the club’s current leading scorer with 24 goals that includes two hat tricks in all competitions.“Playing adult football in a competitive environment has been excellent for Jonte’s development while the goals he has scored for Met Police will have given Jonte a lot of confidence, regardless of the opposition he has been up against,” Barker added.Met Police manager Jim Cooper is already looking for replacements for the soon to be departed Smith.“We have to bring some consistency to our play and as such I will be looking to bring two or three others into the squad in the following week or two as we have to give Jonte back to his parent club, Crawley Town very soon,” he stated on the club’s website.The teenage striker’s dream of playing professional football became a reality last April when he signed a one-year contract with Crawley after banging in more that 20 goals playing for the Red Devils’ academy and reserve teams, including a hat-trick against Wycombe Wanderers in the English FA Youth Cup.