KEVIN Coyle's solitary strike at Grays Athletic has highlighted how important it is for players throughout Witham Town's line-up to be contributing goals, according to manager Mark Ashford.

Coyle's first strike in Witham colours came from a 66th minute corner and was a notable one as it gave them a 1-0 Bostik League victory for a first-ever success at Aveley's Parkside ground, which is where Grays play their home games.

It was the same venue where Witham had been hammered 4-0 by Athletic last season and Ashford was pleased to see a training ground set-piece routine lead to a goal as it helped take the scoring burden off his young strike force.

The Town boss said: “We have not been a team that scores a lot of goals this season and there have only been two games – against Basildon and Barking – where we have scored more than twice.

“That comes from a number of reasons, one of which is that we have been towards the bottom of the table and sides down there don’t tend to be high scorers.

“We have a young set of forwards, which was highlighted at Grays and it’s natural for younger players to sometimes snatch at chances that more experienced players don’t.

“And therefore it’s important that we have other people chipping in with goals.

“It doesn’t matter where they come from, but it is important and that’s another reason why I was so pleased to see Kevin get his goal on Saturday."