Charlie Sheringham is set to play his first game for nine months on Monday night.

The striker hasn't featured for Ebbsfleet since December 2014, when he came out of the team to have a groin operation and then hip surgery.

Sheringham has recently resumed training and will be included in the Fleet side to face Woking in the new Regional Development Playing Programme at Stonebridge Road.

He'll line up alongside Michael West, who returned from a serious knee injury towards the end of last season but needed keyhole surgery in the summer.

Ebbsfleet boss Daryl McMahon said: "We’ll have a good side out on Monday night - Sheringham, West, Acheampong, Braham-Barrett, Shields and mixing that with some of our kids as well like Shilow Tracey and Karn Miller-Neave, some of the younger lads that have done really well.

"I know Woking are bringing a strong side as well so it should be a good game."

The playing programme, which has been set up to bridge the gap between under-18 football and the senior leagues, also features Dartford, Maidstone, Basingstoke and Sutton.

McMahon has already loaned out three members of his first-team squad and with 25 senior players on the books at Ebbsfleet, this scheme could prove very useful.

"I think it will benefit us - and the kids as well," McMahon said. "I’ve got Shilow and Karn, who have been excellent for the youth team for over a year now and they need to play against some proper players.

"That’s a really good test for them and playing with the likes of West and Sheringham - it’s good experience for them."

McMahon, who is also Ebbsfleet's youth academy manager, added: "I think it’s really important that the whole country has a successful under-21 structure.

"I read something about Chelsea, saying they send their players out on loan because they don’t think the under-21 level is good enough. It’s something we have to get right in this country, that we make that level competitive so we haven’t got to loan players out.

"I think you’ve got to create an environment in your club where that’s seen as the top end of your academy, the under-21s, so you’ve got to work hard to get into that.

"We will use it for minutes for the first team. They can go into the under-21s and show the young lads how we play and how we do things."

So how soon could Sheringham and West be ready for first-team action?

"It depends how they get through Monday night," McMahon said. "They’ve not had a game yet.

"They’ve had six or seven training sessions but they need a game now."