Bucks are in safe hands with James Montgomery

James Montgomery became the second Bucks man signed up by the Telford manager after they secured their league status in a dramatic end to the season.

The 22-year-old Sunderland-based shot-stopper, who is also spending time with friends in Lichfield, has shown enough in Smith's eight months at the club to prove his worth.

Montgomery featured 33 times in the National League North last season and was particularly impressive on his return from a serious hand injury in March.

"We thought we'd got to make 'Monty' a priority (to re-sign)," said Smith.

"I think he's very close to being the best keeper in the National League North. And he's only going to get better.

"There was interest in him but we wanted him to stay and we're very happy with him staying here."

Montgomery, who was signed by former boss Steve Kittrick from the Nike Academy in March 2015, made his competitive debut for the Bucks live on BT Sport in a 2-0 win against Braintree, and spent a week training at Wolves n August.

He also spent time at Middlesbrough as a youngster and continues to have training sessions with Sunderland.

Smith re-iterated his claim that Montgomery will make it in the full-time game.

He added: "It's a good deal all-round. We've agreed to allow him to do one training session a week with us and he'll continue to do some training with Sunderland.

"He's going to go on and become a professional goalkeeper – there's no doubt about it."

Montgomery followed right-back Dwayne Samuels in renewing his Telford deal for the coming season.

Smith said: "Dwayne was one of the first priorities and getting him on board was nice."