Jay Benn has left City to sign for National League side Solihull Moors on a season loan long.
Jay signed for the club from Halifax Town just over a year ago. Despite having limited opportunities, he had a good debut outing, contributing to a resounding three-goal victory against Barnsley in the Papa John’s Trophy. However, Jay’s opportunities were mostly limited due to injury and those injuries caused him to miss several chances to participate in the early rounds of cup competitions.
Faced with tough competition in his position, Jay left the club to embark on a loan spell with the League of Ireland side, Bohemians. A move that he hoped would give him consistent playing time and the opportunity to accumulate valuable experience as a part of the first team. Jay took the field on nine occasions for the Irish club, making his debut appearance in a triumphant 3-1 victory over Drogheda United, notably, matching him up against fellow Imps, Elicha Ahui and Freddie Draper. While his involvement with Declan Devine’s team was somewhat limited, Jay managed to secure three consecutive starts toward the conclusion of his loan tenure, before returning to City for pre-season.
Jay appeared on the bench against Bolton Wanderers on the opening day of the season, before making a substitute appearance against Notts County on Tuesday night in the Carabao Cup. The next step of the right-back’s development will be with Solihull Moors in the National League, which will give him a good opportunity to play regularly in a challenging division.
City’s director of football Jez George said: “This is an excellent opportunity for Jay to play regularly, which is so important for his development. This agreement allows Jay to still play for us in the EFL Trophy and we have a recall in January, so that if Jay progresses as we anticipate, we can still see him in a Lincoln City shirt this season.
“His cameo at Notts County showed everyone a glimpse of Jay’s attributes and the potential we saw in him when we brought him to the club. He now needs a bank of games behind him to compete for a place in our team, and Solihull Moors will be a really good environment for him to do that.”
I wish Jay all the luck on his spell away with the club and hopefully he can come back with some more experience, which will ready him for a potential first team spot next season.