Striker Lee McEvilly has signed for Cambridge United on a two-year deal.

The striker spent the second half of last season on loan with the U's and made 15 starts and two substitute appearances, including his memorable late appearance at Burton in the Play-off Semi-final first leg when he came off the bench to level the scores with a superb free kick and a penalty to bring his goal tally to five.

The burly 26-year-old became a big favourite with supporters during his loan spell with a series of committed performances that left defences in his wake, not least at Oxford in early March when he set up the winning goal for Lee Boylan and helped his side to hold on under intense pressure, at Halifax at Easter when he terrorised the home defence and capped a superb team goal with a thoroughly deserved tap in.

Despite missing five weeks in March and April with an ankle injury, McEvilly returned just in time for the last five games of the season, including his memorable contribution at Burton to level the scores ahead of the decisive second leg at home, but he was released by Accrington Stanley at the end of the season and not included in his plans for next season by former U's boss Jimmy Quinn.

"Lee did a superb job for us when he was on loan, especially before he got injured," commented director George Rolls when confirming Lee's signing to cambridgeunited.com

"He had the option of going to other clubs and although we haven't got a manager at the moment we felt it was the right thing to do in bringing Lee back. We spoke to Lee and he wanted to come back to the club, and a player of his quality at this level doesn't stay available for long so we've made sure we snapped him up before anyone else does.

"I think any manager who comes in to the club will be pleased to have Lee McEvilly in their squad."

Lee and his wife visited the club today to complete his free transfer and Rolls confirmed that they will be relocating from the North West to move closer to Cambridge. An interview with Lee follows later this evening.

This is the club's first signing of the close-season and brings the squad of contracted players to sixteen [Squad list].

Liverpool-born McEvilly began his career at Burscough in 2000 and was sold a year later for £20,000 to Rochdale, where he stayed for three years, scoring 27 goals in 95 appearances and earning a Northern Ireland cap.

He joined Accrington Stanley on a free transfer in the summer of 2004 after a loan spell during the previous season, and scored 17 goals in 41 appearances before returning to the Football League by joining Wrexham a year later.

He scored eight goals in 25 appearances (16 starts) for the Red Dragons, but suffered a broken metatarsal in December 2005, fractured the bone again when making his comeback in the Spring of 2006, and then suffered another fracture in the pre-season of 2006-2007 and was sidelined until November 2006.

McEvilly left Wrexham by mutual consent in June 2007, having scored 14 goals in 51 appearances, and rejoined Accrington, but first team chances were limited and after a loan spell at Rochdale, where he scored three goals in three starts and four sub appearances, he joined the U's on loan in the middle of January 2008.

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