Former Colchester United striker Gareth Williams has signed for Braintree Town.Williams and ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Craig Holloway have both been snapped by Iron boss Lee Patterson in an exciting double signing.

Carl Marston

Former Colchester United striker Gareth Williams has signed for Braintree Town.

Williams and ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Craig Holloway have both been snapped by Iron boss Lee Patterson in an exciting double signing.

Williams shot to fame at Colchester by scoring a hat-trick in Phil Parkinson's first match in charge of the U's, in the 4-2 win over Port Vale on March 1, 2003. The 25-year-old former Welsh under-21 international had previously been on the books of Crystal Palace, and since leaving Colchester he has played for Blackpool, Cambridge United and Bromley. He scored 22 goals for the Kent club last season.

Holloway, 23, was an FA Youth Cup winner with Arsenal in 2000 and 2001, and an FA Premier League Academy under-19 League championship winner in 2002. The following season, he was named as a first-team substitute for Arsenal in the Premier League match against West Brom, and he made further appearances on the substitutes' bench the following season, before moving on to Crawley Town (on loan), Farnborough Town (2004) and Gravesend & Northfleet (2005). Injury forced him out of the game for a while, although he played a couple of games for Bromley towards the back-end of last term.