Accrington Stanley have allowed centre back Tom Eckersley to join Stockport County on an initial month’s loan.

Eckersley, 20, joined Stanley in the summer after being released by Bolton Wanderers but is yet to start a league game for the Reds.

With a large squad at his disposal, Stanley boss Paul Cook is keen to loan out players who are unlikely to feature regularly in an attempt to keep them match sharp.

James Gray has joined Vauxhall Motors on a month’s loan, while Marcus Carver has been finding the net frequently on loan at Marine and Ryan Hopper is at Droylsden.

Eckersley will now drop down a division to the Conference with Cook’s former club Stockport.

The Reds boss said: “Stockport are a fantastic club and it’s a really good place for Tom to go.

“He’s a young lad who needs to play football.

“He’s got great qualities and we feel he’s got a future at this club. We don’t send players out because we don’t like them or we’ve fallen out with them, we send them out to get experience.

“Tom Eckersley is going to be a good footballer and a really good player for Accrington Stanley, and him getting some vital Conference experience will do us all the world of good.”