Glenn Pennyfather has made his third new signing of the summer for Chelmsford City in left-back Stephen Reed and confirmed: “I’ve known of Stephen’s talents for a while now and he’s a fantastic player, exactly the kind we want at our club.”

Reed recently turned 25 and is recognised as a full-back, though his versatility means he is equally adept in the centre of midfield, and he is known to craft useful set-pieces. He began his career as a trainee with Yeovil Town in 2002 and went on to play a part in the Glovers squad which won promotion to the Football League. He departed in 2006 after loan spells at Forest Green Rovers, Woking, Aldershot Town and Torquay United.

During those two months with Torquay at Plainmoor towards the end of 2005/06 he impressed sufficiently to earn himself a permanent one-year deal the following season, though he eventually moved on to neighbours Tiverton Town then Weston-super-Mare. He enjoyed more success at Cambridge United in 2007/08, however, and was a regular as they fell at the last hurdle in the Blue Square Premier play-off final at Wembley.

He was released at the end of the campaign and linked-up with another Premier club, Weymouth, where he remained a fixture as captain during troubled times at the Wessex Stadium. Reed then moved back into the League with Macclesfield Town at the start of last season though he did return to Weymouth on loan again, plus Grays Athletic, and scored against the Clarets at Melbourne in March when Glenn’s men prevailed 2-1.

Pennyfather was also pleased to see young attacker Ricky Modeste re-sign Conference forms after making enormous progress last season. Another who won’t be featuring, however, is defender Ben Martin, who was unable to commit to training so it has been mutually agreed for him depart with the club’s best wishes. “We might have a few interesting triallists lining-up for the Stevenage game,” Glenn reassured.

Under 14s Looking for a Coach: Chelmsford City’s Under 14s need an FA Level Two-standard coach or assistant manager for their team in the Eastern Junior Alliance next season. Training is on Wednesday and Friday evenings and matches are on Sundays. Contact Ian Nicholls on (07810) 553237 or E-Mail chelmsfordcity@ymail.com.

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