STRIKER Matt Tubbs has left Forest Green to join Sutton United on a permanent deal and will be eligible to face Cheltenham Town in the FA Cup second round on Saturday.

The 32-year-old joined Forest Green at the start of this season, scoring against Sutton at The New Lawn in August, but had a spell on loan at Woking, for whom he also scored against his new club in November.

He came to prominence with Salisbury City, for whom he scored more than 100 goals before joining Crawley, who he helped in to the Football League. He then moved to Bournemouth, who paid £800,000 for his services. After three years at Dean Court he moved along the coast to Portsmouth, for whom he scored 14 goals last season before finishing the campaign on loan at Eastleigh.

Sutton boss Paul Doswell told the club website: ''This is a superb signing for the club. Matt has a proven goalscoring record at this level and I've been interested in signing him for a while. The fact that he's eligible for the FA Cup is a real bonus and he'll go straight in to the squad for the weekend.''

Tubbs was delighted to make the move, he said: ''I've heard a lot of good things about the club from Charlie Clough and recently from Ben Jefford, and as soon as I knew Paul was interested it was a move I wanted to make.''

Tubbs made 12 appearances for Forest Green and found the net on two occasions.

He made his final appearance for the club in last Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Wrexham as a second-half substitute.

A gentleman’s agreement between Forest Green and Sutton means he will not be able to play when the two sides next meet later on in the season.

A Forest Green club spokesman said: "Everyone at The New Lawn wishes Matt all of the best for the future."