Gary Brabin has explained why Lee McEvilly is rejoining former club Rochdale on loan with a view to a permanent transfer.

The 26-year-old joined United on loan in January and made the move permanent in the summer. Fitter than ever under new boss Brabin, he started the season in great form with six goals in our first seven games, but since then he has only added two penalties to his league goal tally, and was withdrawn after 53 minutes of Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Altrincham.

"We knew what type of character Lee was and I think we got more out of him in four months than some people have got out of him in the last four years," Brabin told cambridgeunited.com. "I think we got the best out of him but we just felt we had to freshen things up.

"We've got some good forwards at the club and even though Lee Mac is leading goalscorer he's played more games than anyone else and his last league goal in open play was at Ebbsfleet at the start of September. I feel that we've really stood by him and I know he's scored two penalties since then, but I feel that we need to change things a bit.

"Scotty Rendell coming in has given us another option; he's got a proven goalscoring record, and it gives the likes of Danny Crow a chance," he added.

"Also, at the back of Lee's mind, his family is still in Liverpool and he's not prepared to move down here, which is a factor, and we feel this is the right thing to do. It's a bold decision but we feel it's the right one.

"We demand a high workrate from the players and I feel that sometimes Lee didn't always give us that. He had a great start to the season when he was working at his hardest after pre-season, and he had his just rewards with the goals he scored at the beginning of the season. I feel we genuinely got the best out of him, but since then he's stuttered a little bit.

"Then when he had the three-match ban we worked him hard again and he was a bit humble and worked hard, and he did well in the Setanta Shield game when he came back and showed what he was capable of. It's evident for everyone to see the talent Lee's got, but we need a bit more consistency and we feel that now is the time to give the other lads a go."

Brabin believes that the move will help to bring the best out of his other forwards, Mark Beesley, Danny Crow, Chris Holroyd, and last season's top scorer Scott Rendell who re-joined on loan from Peterborough last week.

"I think the fact that we're showing more faith in them will give all the forwards a bit of a lift and we see this as a positive rather than a negative," commented the U's boss. "We just need a different approach, and by showing faith in the other forwards we feel we're going to get more out of them.

"We've got some very good forwards at the club and they're all proven strikers. Lee was a strong personality and I feel him leaving will give the others a lift, so we've made the decision and we view it as a positive one."

Not only is Rochdale a familiar club to McEvilly, who spent three seasons there at the beginning of his career and a loan spell last season just before joining United on loan from Accrington, but they are also flying high in third place in League Two. The loan paperwork is due to be finalised this afternoon.

Merseyside-based McEvilly played almost 100 league games for Rochdale in two previous spells there, scoring 28 goals. He is currently United's leading scorer, having netted eight league goals and a hat-trick in the Setanta Shield defeat at Telford.

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