Sligo Rovers have announced the signing of centre forward Benny Igiehon from July 1 subject to international clearance. Igiehon moves to Rovers after spells in both England and Switzerland.
Igiehon comes from English Northern Premier League side Scarborough Athletic, where he was the club’s leading goal scorer last season.
The 23-year-old has been training with the Sligo Rovers first team all week and is very excited about his move to the Showgrounds. He said: “This is a fantastic football club with a lot of history and I am honoured to have signed for the club. I cannot wait to help the team move up the league table, which is where the club belongs.”
Gerard Lyttle is delighted to have secured the signing of Igiehon and added: “Benny is a real physical presence and has a quick turn of pace. He is a player who has the potential to go on and do great things for Sligo Rovers. I am very pleased to have secured his signature and I am very excited for the supporters of this football club.”
Both Benny Igiehon and Rhys Mc Cabe will be officially unveiled at a press conference in the Showgrounds on Monday June 19 at 3pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Before that, Sligo Rovers welcome Galway United to The Showgrounds on Saturday on the return to action in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division.
The Bit O’ Red are hosting a Family Day with gates opening at 5pm for a host of fun soccer activities, free ice-cream and face painting for young fans.
The club will also be offering a discount to fans attending both Sligo GAA’s game at 5pm and the Rovers match. Fans that present their ticket from the GAA game with Antrim will receive a 20% (€3) discount off their ticket at The Showgroubds with the aim of encouraging bumper support for Sligo sport this weekend.
Liam Martin has made a speedy recovery from an ankle problem that looked set to rule him out for most of the month and is fit. Daniel Kearns is likely to return for the Bohemians game next week.
Chris Kenny is suspended following an accumulator of yellow cards.
Manager Gerard Lyttle said: “We felt disappointment as we parted after the Harps game for the mid-season break. We have done okay since I’ve come in – just okay- and we need to start winning games. We played nearly all of the top teams in May with some good draws and wanted June to be about winning games, starting with Harps. So it was disappointment and we left the players with a message ahead of their break. This week we have seen a focus in training and they must bring that into Saturday.
“Galway are a team I’ve seen quite a bit of. They play a nice style of football, like ourselves, and it will be a tough game. We owe them one after the League Cup game and we want to make this a hard place to come.”
Lyttle has welcome two new signings this month in Rhys McCabe and Igiehon with both set to be available in July.
Lyttle said: “Benny has trained with us all week and Rhys is coming in shortly. We also welcome back some of the young players that we have left out in recent weeks while they complete exams. That’s important for more numbers in training and add to the sharpness of everyone.”
Kick-off is 7:45pm in The Showgrounds.
