KOJO Apenteng missed out on making his Great Wakering Rovers debut in the 1-0 win over Soham Town Rangers after failing to travel to the Isthmian North encounter.

Apenteng has completed a move from Barking and was in line to appear in a Wakering shirt for the first time at Soham.

Although Jake Gordon’s penalty was enough for Wakering to climb into the play-off places, player-manager Steve Butterworth admits the new recruit would have been included in his starting line-up were it not for a miscommunication.

“Kojo has signed for us and the paperwork came through on Saturday morning, so he could have played,” said Butterworth.

“But there was a breakdown in communication and he was under the impression that he hadn’t officially signed yet, so he didn’t turn up for the game.

“He probably would have started but he will have to wait to make his debut now because he can’t play in Tuesday's Isthmian League Cup tie against Tilbury due to being cup-tied.

“Alfie Hilton and Billy Johnson are away at the moment and Josh Wiggins is now out for the season after his double leg break, so we were running low on wingers and wanting to strengthen our numbers in that position.

“It’s great to have Kojo on board and we’re looking forward to seeing him in a Wakering shirt.”

The only goal of the clash came two minutes before the interval, with Gordon converting from the penalty spot after Reece Conway had been brought down.

And Butterworth felt his side deserved to claim all three points.

“Soham is not a nice place to go and the pitch was horrible,” added Butterworth.

“To be fair, we came out flying and were camped in their half for the first 20 minutes or so.

“They didn’t get into our half for the first 25 minutes but, despite all of our possession, we didn’t create one chance and it was difficult to find a route to goal.

“It was very hard to score because the pitch was boggy but we got the penalty and took it.

“After that, we knew it was just a case of seeing the game out because it would be hard for them to score.

“At half-time, I told the players to slow the game down and make it really difficult for them.

“We still created two or three chances in the second half and the goalkeeper made a very good save to deny Dan Walker.

“But we were the better side and fully deserving of the three points.”