Eckersley back in North West

Last updated : 18 September 2015 By Tony Scholes

Currently without manager, David Dunn is in place as interim boss at Boundary Park and he's strengthened his defensive options with the signing of Eckersley who has been looking for a return to England where he last played for Bury in a 0-0 draw at Port Vale in March 2011.

At the time, he was on loan from Burnley but we cut short the loan to enable him to go on loan to Toronto before cancelling his contract in January of the following year to allow him to make that a permanent move.

He's since also played for New York Red Bulls but decided he wanted to play back in England. It looked very likely that Southend would sign him but by then manager Phil Brown had his eyes on Luke O'Neill who has since moved to Roots Hall.

So, for Eckersley, it is Oldham for the next three months and, provided they receive international clearance in time, he'll be in their squad for tomorrow's game at Doncaster with the full back pairing potentially both ex-Clarets with Joseph Mills on the left.

Eckersley was a summer signing for Burnley in 2009 and was on the bench for our opening Premier League game at Stoke. He didn't get on and never made a league appearance for us. His only appearances were in the two cup competitions. He was unfortunate to be sent off by Jon Moss at Hartlepool but it has to be said he was very fortunate not to be sent off in the next round at Barnsley; we replaced him at half time before Mark Clattenburg lost patience.

Still just 26, he's made just 24 league appearances in English football. He twice came on as a substitute for Man United prior to signing for us and then, in loans, he played on 22 occasions for Plymouth, Bradford City and Bury.