BRAINTREE Town manager Jamie Day is delighted to have landed the goalkeeper that he wanted with the signing of Jamie Butler from Hemel Hempstead.

The Iron had to pay an undisclosed fee for the 24-year-old to switch from the Vanarama National League South side and Day is happy to have a player on board who he rates so highly.

Butler, who started his career at Metropolitan Police in the Ryman League, joined Hemel Hempstead in 2015 from Concord Rangers, where his form had earned him a call into Paul Fairclough's England C squad.

Day admits his new keeper may not be the tallest shot-stopper in the league, but he is someone who he has been tracking for a while and is pleased to have him on board.

"I like Jamie and he is a really good goalkeeper," said Day.

"He is an excellent shot-stopper and is very mobile.

"He's not the biggest, but he makes up for that in other areas.

"Not being the tallest of keepers may have gone against him with some clubs, but he is very positive.

"When we started speaking to him he said he wanted to play at the highest level possible and we feel he can play at this level and go further as well.

"I watched him a bit last year and Jamie Turner, my goalkeeping coach, has seen a lot of him and he is very impressed."

Having Butler on board will give Braintree permanence between the sticks that they were lacking last season as former manager Danny Cowley preferred to make use of the loan market to fill the goalkeeping berth.

He had Will Norris from Cambridge, Michael Crowe from Ipswich and Tom King from Millwall for spells during the campaign, but even though it worked for the Iron last year, Day said having loanees like that could be unsettling and it was something he'd rather not risk.

"In the past, when I was manager at Welling, I did the same with loan keepers but it never really worked for me," he said.

"People can be called back to their parent clubs at any time and it can be unsettling.

"You want your back four and keeper to be a unit and I've found in the past that it can be difficult if there is the uncertainty over players' positions.

"Having a permanent keeper allows you to build up relationships at the back, get to know each other and I think that's a real benefit to have."