Hampton & Richmond Borough boss Mark Harper has admitted Dan Thompson's efforts to land a move to the pro ranks means the Beavers haven't seen the best of him this term.

The 17-year-old, currently on trial at Championship outfit Portsmouth, has spent time with Stoke City, QPR, Swindon Town, Crystal Palace and Brentford this season, while also attracting the attention of Liverpool.

He has made just four appearances for Hampton so far this term as Harper's men, who won 2-0 at Maidenhead United on Tuesday, have struggled at the foot of the table.

A similar fate could yet affect the form of injured 20-year-old midfielder Dean Inman, who impressed - alongwith Thompson - at QPR last month and is now being watched closely by Burnley.

And Harper has admitted there seems no sign of the situation changing just yet giving him a headache in terms of jugggling his resources at Station Road.

"Dan has worked really hard over the summer and spent time at a lot of other clubs. I think it is catching up with him," he said.

"His agent had him at Crystal Palace and Brentford in the same week - which I suppose is his job - and he came back looking jaded. It is part of the reason why he hasn't played for us that much.

"He will go on and play in the pro game, but if it doesn't work out I'm confident he will become our main centre forward for the next six months at least.

"He knows he has time on his side and a spell of concentrating on things here would be good for him anyway.

"Burnley have watched Dean four or five times and he would have been there this week, but he picked up a knock against Eastbourne. Hopefully, he'll go up there next week.

"We will not stand in the way of them improving themselves."

Hampton crashed 1-0 at Dorchester Town on Saturday, thanks to an injury-time winner from the hosts when the game had seemed set to finish all square.

But goals from Dave Tarpey and Nathan Collier saw them roar back to form on Tuesday to secure a first away win and a first cleansheet of the campaign while moving out of the division's bottom three.

And Harper, whose men host bottom club Thurrock this week insisted he has seen enough from his men in the last three weeks that says they can beat the drop.

"Saturday was heartbreaking, but the way we have been performing recently I can't see any problem in us being alright," he added.

"Also, a few teams might cut their budgets in the new year, which means we could also pick up a few new faces to strengthen our squad.

"On Tuesday it seemed the penny had finally dropped with a few playeers. We are not going to get carried away and we've just go to keep working hard."