BILLERICAY Town have bolstered their strike force with the signing of Rowan Liburd.

The 21-year-old Liburd impressed on trial for Billericay earlier in pre-season, where he netted five goals for the Ryman Premier league side, and has already signed registration forms.

Liburd, who stands at 6ft 4ins tall, recently spent time on trial with Southend United, impressing against Concord Rangers and Braintree Town, but failed to win a deal at the Blues.

But Craig Edwards says Southend’s loss is Billericay’s gain.

“Rowan is a very accomplished player,” he said. “He has all the qualities needed to be a success at this level and that is a big boost to our squad. He is a target man due to his height but is also very quick and, most importantly, he can score goals.

“Southend spoke very highly of him but they were looking at someone else, so I am very happy with that.”

Croydon lad Liburd has previously spent time in the USA, where he was at Thomas University, in Georgia, and was an instant hit. He won a number of awards, including the Sun Conference Player of the Year – which covers the states of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

He helped Thomas University to the league title but moved back to England to continue his development – and that looks to be at Billericay.

Liburd is currently nursing a hand injury sustained whilst playing for Southend against Concord and he will likely miss the start of the season.

“He is likely to miss the next two to three weeks I would say,” said Edwards. “But saying that, we have some excellent strikers at our disposal and our squad is looking very strong.

“We have Isaac Layne, Ricky Sappleton, Junior Appiah and Javlon Campbell here at the moment and our strikers are all showing they are all very capable.”

*Isaac Layne has since agreed a deal to sign with Southend United's development squad. He is expected to have a medical today.