NEW Truro City signing Adam Kelly is hoping to celebrate his 24th birthday on Saturday by scoring the winner against former club Salisbury City at Treyew Road.
The winger has signed for Truro after his contract with the Wiltshire club was cancelled by mutual agreement.
The winger celebrates his 24th birthday on Saturday when he is expected to make his debut for the White Tigers against his former club after signing on non-contract forms for City.
Kelly, from Tiverton, made 77 appearances for the Whites, scoring 14 goals in a season and a half at the Ray McEnhill Stadium, but has recently fallen out of favour with player-manager Darrell Clarke.
And now he wants to earn himself a permanent place in Lee Hodges's squad when the club's transfer embargo is finally lifted.
Kelly has currently signed on a non-contract basis.
He said: "I am not a player who likes to jump from club to club.
"I have got until the end of the season to prove myself to Lee and want to be here long term."
Kelly's first chance to stake his claim to a permanent place at the club ironically comes against his former team on Saturday. And the former Bashley player is looking forward to making his debut, whether in the starting line-up or from the bench, after recovering from a bout of food poisoning which would have made him doubtful for City's game at Basingtoke Town last Saturday, before the game was postponed because of a frozen pitch.
He said: "I just want to play football. I could have stayed at Salisbury and sat on the bench until the end of the season but the manager made it clear there would be nothing for me there after that.
"I am looking forward to putting in an appearance on Saturday and will do my best to help get a win for Truro. To score the winner on my birthday would really be something."
Kelly scored ten goals for Salisbury last season when they won promotion to Blue Square Bet South via the play-offs from the Southern League's premier division, with Truro going up automatically as champions.
And he played in the home game against Truro when the Tigers scored an amazing 6-0 win which acted as a springboard in their march to the title.
And Kelly admitted that defeat had a dramatic affect on his then team. He said: "It was hard mentally after that. Our fate was still in our own hands but I think it killed us off."
Hodges said he was delighted to secure the services of Kelly, who works as a part-time coach with Exeter City's school of excellence.
He said: "He is the sort of player we have been crying out for and I am really pleased to have signed him.
"It is not a stop gap signing and hopefully we can keep him here on a long term basis.
"He is a very busy and exciting player who likes to get at people and will be a good addition to our squad.
"I am looking forward to working with him. I like what I have seen so far."
Hodges has not yet decided on whether Kelly will start on Saturday, but will wait to see how he goes in training this week.
And the Tigers' boss is hoping City can build on their 2-1 home win over Staines Town in their last outing and is also hoping for a big crowd for their last game at Treyew Road this month.
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