Jayden Stockley: On-loan Exeter City striker inspired by Bournemouth success

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Jayden StockleyImage source, Rex Features
Image caption,

Jayden Stockley has scored four goals in his last five games for Exeter City

Exeter City's on-loan striker Jayden Stockley says he has been inspired by how parent club AFC Bournemouth have adapted to the Premier League.

Stockley has scored seven goals in 13 games for Exeter - the eighth club he has joined on a temporary basis.

He is close to the likes of Simon Francis, Steve Cook and Harry Arter, who are all playing in the top flight.

"The fact they made it late drives me on even more to never give up," the 22-year-old told BBC Sport.

"You can get to the top and there are so many examples of that."

Stockley made his Bournemouth debut as a 15-year-old in 2009, but last played for the club when they were in League One in March 2012.

He spent much of the following season on loan in the Conference with Woking before spells in Leagues One and Two with Leyton Orient, Portsmouth, Torquay United, Luton Town, Cambridge United and Accrington.

In that time the Cherries have risen from the third tier of English football to the top flight, after winning the Championship last season.

"It's been hard for me, not really being part of any of the promotions, so I wanted to get out and just make my own successes and hopefully build a career which I can be proud of," said Stockley, who joined Exeter in January

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe needed permission from Stockley's school to allow him to make his debut in October 2009

"I'm one to get out and play as many games of football as possible, I've got a love for the game and I want to continue and hopefully keep doing well.

"I've had a lot of setbacks, and being at a Premier League club and seeing my best friends, and the success they're getting, only drives you on more as a person and a player."

Stockley's goals-to-games ratio at Exeter is the best at any of the clubs he has spent time at on loan, and he is conscious that he must continue to do well in the fourth tier.

"I haven't played loads of games at this level, so I need to continue and prove to people that I can play at this level," he added.

"I'm not looking at the Premier League, for me that's a long way off,

"You don't know what football's like, but I'm building a career here and I want to climb the leagues at a steady pace like some of my friends have done, in a way that you lay foundations in the lower leagues to hopefully play higher."

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