Adding goals to his game as part of his development as a player was one of the things that brought Marc-Anthony Okoye to Braintree Town this summer and he is delighted to be delivering for Iron boss Brad Quinton.

The big centre-half was pleased to get his debut Braintree goal and even happier that it brought his team a win as he powered in a header for the decisive strike in the Iron’s 1-0 Vanarama National League South win against St Albans City on Monday.

They will now head to Oxford City in confident mood on Saturday, before returning home to face Welling United on Tuesday (kick-off 7.45pm) and Okoye will be looking to add to his tally.

The 24-year old said: “I’ve spoken to Brad (Quinton) about me getting goals and something that helped bring me here is how much he wants to develop me as a footballer.

“He wants to add more goals to my game and make my physique a problem in the opposing box.

“He’s chuffed to see me get off the mark and he actually said to me as I ran forward for the corner ‘you’ve got this one’.

“Brad expects that from me - to have a presence in both boxes.

“It was brilliant to get my first goal.

“I had one against Dartford that got disallowed so to finally get one was unreal and especially at the stage of that the game was at.

“It was important.

“The work rate of the guys was immense throughout the game and getting the goal on top of that was so good.

“Also keeping a clean sheet - that was good as well.”

Okoye has been making a big impact both on and off the pitch since his switch to the Iron and Quinton has recognised his importance by making him his first Braintree captain, so the manager is also delighted that his skipper is off the mark in terms of goals.

Quinton added: “I think Skip (Okoye) has been tremendous.

“He is leading by example in training, in the dressing room, when travelling and on the pitch.

“I said to him as he went up for the corner – ‘want to score Marc, want to score’.

“He is a man mountain and he’s a very good play; he’s not just a very good centre-half, he’s a very good ball player as well.

“I love him to bits; he’s a fantastic player and the first one on my team sheet week-in week-out.

“It was a great goal and one that he deserved.

“He said to me that he’ll get me six or seven this season so I’ll hold him to that.”