Felixstowe & Walton United sign Hadleigh United’s 17-goal wide player Tom Warren

Felixstowe & Walton United have won the race to sign Hadleigh United’s 17-goal wide player Tom Warren.

His new club is one that is well known to the 24-year-old’s family with Tom’s brother Charlie already playing for the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division club who lost out promotion to Step 3 via a play-off semi-final defeat last term.

Left-sided specialist Tom, who can operate as a left winger or at left-back, led lower-level Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division Hadleigh’s goalscoring charts last season, scoring 17 times from 37 appearances (36 starts).

His form for the mid-table Brettsiders saw him win both supporters’ and players’ player end-of-season awards.

It comes following the departure of Hadleigh boss Steve Holder, who was recently replaced by his assistant, Liam Scopes.

Tom Warren told the Seasiders’ media team: “I'm looking forward to a new challenge and I feel like this is the right one.

“It's such a good football club to be a part of, I can't wait to get started. I'm really excited for the new season ahead.”

His new manager, Stuart Boardley, revealed Felixstowe had beat off competition from a number of fellow Step 4 clubs to gain his signature.

“Tom is a really exciting prospect, at a good age of 24,” he said.

“He’s done incredibly well at Hadleigh and we’ve managed to sign him ahead of several Step 4 opponents.

“We are really pleased to bring another Warren to the club and hopefully he can progress and nail down a place in the same way as his brother has.

“Tom is an exciting, attacking left-back/midfielder with bags of energy, pace and size so we’re all looking forward to seeing him play.”

Meanwhile, his former manager gave him a glowing endorsement, posting under Felixstowe’s announcement on their X account: “Great signing. You’ve got yourself a fantastic player who will only get better, also a great lad.

“Looking forward to watching Tomo’s progress even more.”