SUPERMARINE boss Dave Webb has decided he would like to keep loanee Conor Thompson at the club until the end of the season but it is yet to be seen whether parent club Torquay will go along with his wishes.

The former Swindon Town youth team goalkeeper has been a steadying influence behind the back four since the departure of Kent Kauppinen before Christmas, but is due to return to League Two Torquay following Saturday’s home game with Taunton.

Webb has been mulling over whether or not to keep Thompson at the Webb’s Wood Stadium over the weekend, with a number of other options available to him, but having signalled his desire to keep the youngster now has to wait and hear the opinion of new Gulls boss Chris Hargreaves.

“Conor’s keen to stay with us and down at Torquay they have three keepers of which he is one, so, although the clubs haven’t spoken yet, we would be keen to have him here maybe until the end of the season,” Webb said.

“Until the clubs talk about that we won’t know, although he’s available for the next two games, but hopefully something will be sorted.

“There could well be an emergency recall in there in case Torquay need him back, which can present problems for us, but we will have to deal with that because he’s a very good goalkeeper.

“We do have some more options we could exploe but Conor’s come in and done really well and has given us a lift.

“I’m sure he wants to stake a claim at Torquay so it will all depend on what the clubs can agree, but we would hope to know more by Tuesday really.”

Marine’s game away at Wimborne on Saturday was washed out by the wet weather, much to Webb’s frustration, but the former Highworth boss is keen to avoid further fixture congestion after backed up matches caused his side problems last season.

“It’s frustrating but there’s not an awful lot we can do about it because it’s so wet everywhere,” he said.

“We’ve only played four matches since the start of December so we’re really hoping we don’t get into a situation like we did last year with so many games crammed into April, so we’re doing our best to fit them in.

“We need to keep our players fit over this period and if we do then we have a chance.”