Accrington Stanley have boosted their squad by signing Northern Ireland international Lee McEvilly on a month's loan from Rochdale.

Manager John Coleman revealed his delight at snapping up the highly rated striker, who he was keen to sign before the former Burscough star moved to Spotland for £20,000 two years ago.

"He'll give us a lift," said the Reds chief, who could hand McEvilly his debut as early as tonight against Tamworth at the Interlink Express Stadium.

"He's a big, powerful, good attacking player who can play in numerous positions, and he's an international.

"We'll have to wait and see if the move becomes permanent though."

Rochdale manager Steve Parkin, who is in his second managerial spell at the club, was certainly keen for the loan move to go ahead and believes it will benefit everyone concerned.

"When I came back to Rochdale I had a good chat with Lee. He was carrying a bit of weight so I told him to get his backside into gear and show me that he wanted to play," the former Barnsley boss said.

"To be fair to him he has done that, he's got the weight off and his attitude has been really good.

"The simple matter of the fact is that there are no regular fixtures for the reserves so he asked if it would be possible to go out on loan.

"John (Coleman) asked about him the other week and I said to give it a week.

"We're trying to help the lad and help Accrington Stanley, and I think it will help us too.

"There are good connections between us and Accrington. I've known John and Eric (Whalley) for ages and always played pre-season friendlies with them in my first spell in charge.

"So I'm sure they'll do the right things by Lee and look after him and it will do him good."

And Parkin hasn't ruled out the possibility of looking beyond the 21-year-old's loan deal.

"These days it would be foolish to say yes it is with a view to a permanent signing or no it isn't," he said.

"If he pulls all the trees up then obviously we'll want him back.

"But if he wants to stay at Accrington then we'll look into that.

"It's just a case of wait and see at the moment."

The 38-year-old Dale boss said that McEvilly had perhaps become a victim of the Spotland outfit's circumstances following five full-time managerial changes in the last two years.

Plus the youngster, who made his Northern Ireland debut in a friendly with Spain in April 2002, is one of five strikers currently at the club.

"He had a really good start to his professional career and a positive season," Parkin said.

"But sometimes when you do get off to a really cracking start it's always difficult to follow that up in the second season because there's a lot of expectation and young players sometimes dip in form.

"It's been difficult for him with the change of managers at the club as well.

"But he seems a nice lad and he needs to be playing matches."