Witham Town manager Mark Ashford feels both new signing Tom Monk and the club can see big benefits of his move to Spa Road after securing a coup in bringing in the highly-rated former Colchester United youngster.

Ashford is excited to have a player of Monk's calibre on board and feels he can help the 22-year-old develop as a footballer.

Monk, who has made more more than 100 appearances for Coggeshall Town, has joined Witham after spells at AFC Sudbury and Needham Market this season and has shown his influence for Witham already in providing an assist for Johnny Ashman's goal after coming on as a substitute in the 2-1 win against Great Wakering Rovers on Saturday.

“Tom was a scholar with Colchester United before being released three years ago," said Ashford.

“He’s 22 now and had been with Coggeshall for two or three seasons, but he left them and I tried to sign him then but couldn’t get near what he was expecting wages-wise.

“So he went to Sudbury, but they changed their system after he joined and the role he had been brought in for wasn’t really available and he has been training with Needham Market.

“I think they were going to sign him and he would have been on good money, but he would have been a squad player, so I spoke to him about what we are doing here.

“I told him how I felt we could help him as a footballer and he’s been really encouraged by that.

“He hasn’t played much football so we will have to manage him for a while and we’ll build his fitness up.

“But I feel it’s good for us to have him here at Witham.

“I haven’t brought him in just for this season.

“I think this season will about getting him playing regular football and then he’ll be a really big asset for us next year.

“He is probably more of a winger than a centre forward by his own admittance, but I think he will develop into a very good centre forward.

“He is only 22.

“He’s more of a winger at the moment, but he is a goal-scoring winger if you look at his track record.

“That’s something we’ve struggled for this year and an area we need to improve on for next season."