WHILE the final result of his team’s FA Trophy extra-preliminary round tie against Coggeshall Town was top of the list of things pleasing Witham Town manager Mark Ashford, it was the performance of one of the club’s up-and-coming youngsters that also caught the boss’ eye.

Witham won the game 1-0 against their local rivals with a display that Ashford felt was their best of the season so far and he was delighted to see Town’s 18-year-old development team captain, Jack Lelliott, step off the bench and put in a mature performance in testing circumstances.

Ashford said: “We had a young man from the under-23s – Jack Lelliott - come in after we had lost a couple of players on the day through injuries.

“He had travelled with us up to Dereham a couple of weeks ago on his 18th birthday and had come on late on there and he came on again against Coggeshall.

“Even though he’d come in at short notice, we put him on when Henry Fisher picked up a dead leg.

“Maybe people were surprised that I put Jack on as he’d come into the matchday squad late and had not been training with us, but he adapted really well.

“He grew into the game and gave us a really solid and mature performance in a very tight Trophy game in front of a big crowd against a very good Coggeshall side.

“I was really special and I was very pleased for him.

“We trusted him and he came in and did a sterling job for us to repay that trust with how he coped with the situation.

“I’m also pleased for the club because it shows that we are prepared to bring through young players.

“Some managers say they will do it and then give them a couple of games in Mickey Mouse competitions, but people from the club can see that we are prepared to do it even in big games like this.”

The Trophy win against Coggeshall has now set up a preliminary round tie at AFC Dunstable on Friday, October 12 for Witham, but ahead of that, they also have another two big games.

They start with a Bostik League division north home clash against Bowers & Pitsea on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) and then continue at Maldon & Tiptree in the League Cup on Tuesday (kick-off 7.45pm).

The game against Bowers will see Ashford facing one of his former clubs and he is looking forward to it kicking off a big week of action.

He added: “I know the players, (manager) Rob (Small) and people from the club and I know they are going in a great direction.

“It shows how far they have come in the last few years, but I know this year they will be clearly one of the teams looking at the play-offs as a minimum.

“They have been recruiting well from higher leagues on the back of what they did last year and we have to meet the challenge ahead.

“We have to be where we were against Coggeshall and we have to be the same when we head to Maldon & Tiptree in the League Cup on Tuesday because they will give us a test as well.

“It is a massive week all round for us as we are then at AFC Dunstable in the Trophy on the Friday.

“We have to be every bit as good as we were against Coggeshall and believe in ourselves.”