HOT-SHOT Stanway striker Sam Newson has signed for Needham Market.

HOT-SHOT Stanway striker Sam Newson has signed for Needham Market.

Newson, who was the leading scorer in the Ridgeons League Premier Division last season with 34 goals, has joined the league champions, who next season will be playing in Division One North of the Ryman League.

The Ipswich-born striker, who celebrates his 22nd birthday later this month, said that Ryman League sides AFC Sudbury, Heybridge Swifts and Maldon & Tiptree had all expressed an interest in signing him along with Ridgeons League Leiston.

Newson, who lives at East Bergholt, said: “It is my ambition to play at a higher level, and Needham Market are a Suffolk-based team local to me.

“As soon as I knew they were interested in me I spoke to them. I know Danny Laws, the Needham manager, quite well as he took the course I was on when I did my Level One coaching.

“He is a well-respected coach and manager who will be able to help me develop.

“I can’t wait for the new season and I have already started running to prepare myself for the challenge ahead.”

Newson has shot to prominence over the last two years, finishing second-highest scorer in the Premier Division of the Ridgeons League in the 2008/09 season when he helped Stanway lift the League Cup.

After resisting offers at the end of last season and staying loyal to Stanway , where he was under contract, it seemed inevitable that he would be snapped up by a higher league club ahead of next season.