West Auckland manager Peter Dixon says that the decision of striker Mattie Moffat to sign a contract is a “massive coup” for the club.

Moffat, who was the second leading scorer in the first division last season with 26 goals, has signed a two year contract at the club. Dixon said: “It is a great boost for the club that Mattie has signed. He has played football for Sunday teams in recent years, but he’s quite prepared to play only Saturday football for us. It means that we should get more mileage out of him, and in return, we’ll reap the rewards of that.”

Dixon has also agreed a contract with Micky Rae, signed from Spennymoor, and he said: “At the end of the season, I wasn’t looking for another striker, but Micky said that he had a desire to play for us because he’s friends with some of the lads at West.

“Whenever he played against us last season, he always hurt us. However, even though he’s signed a contract, he’s not going to be available for every game, because he’s studying to be a physio in Leeds. He’ll be paired with Mattie for some of the season, but we still have Danny Hindmarch, Stuart Banks and Chris Lunn who will play up front. We were the fourth top scorers in the first division last season, and we’ll be looking for a repeat of that in the new campaign.”

Dixon has also signed defender Ross Preston, who was at Jarrow Roofing last season, but has also played for Esh Winning, Ryton and Washington.

Like several other clubs, West started training at Darlington Road last Saturday.