Six Added to Didcot Squad

Plus several of last season`s squad pen new deals.

Pitching In Southern Football League Division One Central club Didcot Town have added six new signings and retained several of last season`s squad.

Returning to the Loop Meadow Stadium for second spells are popular centre-back Adam Learoyd, Cameron McNeil and forward Louis Joyce.

The experienced 32-year-old Learoyd returns from league rivals North Leigh.

He had joined the Millers in August 2019 from the Railwaymen where he had been one of their longest-serving players, having re-joined in 2014 from Oxford City.

An ex-Banbury United player, he is an excellent reader of the game, good in the air and always pops up with a few goals.

McNeil is a 27-year-old tenacious defender who is comfortable at left-back or as a centre-back and did both roles for Didcot in his first spell with the club.

He first joined the Railwaymen from Wantage Town in 2017 and then left for league rivals North Leigh in August 2020.

He made 11 appearances last season for the Millers.

Joyce, 27, is a pacey centre-forward with a lot of experience at a higher level.

He re-joins Didcot from Hellenic League Premier Division side Milton United.

He has had two previous spells with the Railwaymen, sandwiching periods spent at Oxford City Nomads, Banbury United and Kidlington in between.

Box-to-box midfielder James Glover joins from another league rival, Kidlington.

The 25-year-old had joined the Greens from another Southern Division One Central rival, Wantage Town in January 2020.

He helped Fred`s win the Hellenic League Premier Division title in 2018/19 and had a spell with Thatcham Town before re-joining Wantage in the summer of 2019.

Maurice Alhassan is a pacey and tricky winger who joins the Railwaymen from current United Counties League Premier Division South side Biggleswade United, where he played in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division.

Alhassan, who turns 20 next week, had brief spells with league rivals Kempston Rovers and Wantage Town and has also played in the SSML with Buckingham Athletic.

Tom Carter is a 21-year-old former Oxford City and Thame United defender who is another new face at the Loop Meadow.

Re-signing for 2021/22 are Leigh Bedwell, Harley Giles, Joe Green, Luke Hayward, Sam Barder, Seth Humphries and Taylor Bedwell.

Leigh Bedwell is a 27-year-old goalkeeper who started his career at Swindon Town before moving onto Banbury United, where he had been on loan.

He originally signed for Didcot back in July 2015 and has proven to be one of the best keepers at Step 4 level.

Giles is a 20-year-old midfielder who re-signed for Didcot ahead of the 2020/21 campaign.

He originally joined at the back end of the 2019/20 season from Hellenic League Premier Division side Ardley United, but had his opportunities limited last season due to the lockdown.

There was interest elsewhere in the player who, despite his young age, has already played a vast number of games and did well in the few games he managed for the club before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season prematurely.

Green, 23, is a centre-back who made 36 appearances for Hellenic League Division One East side Abingdon United in 2018/19 where he has also been captain, despite his young age.

He moved to the Loop Meadow in July 2019.

Hayward is a 20-year-old defender who joined Didcot in the summer of 2020 from league rivals Kidlington, while Barder, 24, is a midfielder who moved to then-Southern Division One South side Thatcham Town in June 2019 from Didcot and then made the reverse journey a year later.

Having broken into the Wantage Town senior team at the age of 16, he spent a couple of years at Alfredian Park before signing for Didcot in 2016.

He spent three seasons at the Loop Meadow where he was part of the team which reached the play-offs and the final of the Southern League Cup.

He was ever-present in 2018/19 as the Railwaymen finished seventh in Division One Central.

Humphries, 23, joined Didcot in 2017 from Oxford United and is an attacking midfielder who likes to try and create things, while 18-year-old Taylor Bedwell is a full-back who signed first team forms for the Railwaymen last July.

He is the son of assistant manager Paul Bedwell and the nephew of keeper Leigh.

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