Widdrington previously spent 13 years at Portsmouth and two years at Bristol Rovers. He signed for Havant & Waterlooville in August 2020 from Lewes after previously playing for them in 2017 on loan from Pompey.

The 22-year-old made his debut for Boro on Saturday in their 2-1 win over Plymouth Parkway in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup.

Gale said that he was impressed by Widdrington’s debut but still needs to build fitness.

“He was good today but tired at the end. He won the penalty and scored a great penalty. He started to conduct us a bit better with the ball in the second half, but then he was cramping so I had to make a change.

“Theo [Widdrington] will get better with games. He has missed the first three games of the season through suspension, but he is a very good addition.”