MARK Ashford is very clear about the style of football that Witham Town fans can expect to see under his managerial tenure.

The new Witham boss has taken the reins at the Village Glass Stadium after being appointed at the end of last week following the departure of previous manager Adam Flint last month.

Ashford arrives in his new role with a wealth of footballing experience behind him and has begun formulating plans for his first season in charge in Bostik League division north.

He is a UEFA A licence coach - one of just over 200 holders of the qualification in the country - and was most recently assistant boss at Heybridge Swifts, as well as a former assistant at Bowers and Pitsea and Stansted FC manager.

And he is very clear about the type of football that he wants his team to be playing.

He said: "My philosophy is the one that Heybridge Swifts have and that was a key thing why I wanted to go there and work there.

"We shared the same vision and that's the vision I'm bringing to Witham Town.

"I believe that, at this level, you can play football by dominating possession.

"There are obviously times when you have to go direct, but I haven't spent 20 years investing time in my footballing knowledge to coach players to launch the ball forward at every opportunity.

"I don't believe in that.

"What I will build at Witham is a team that has different structures in terms of shape and the system we play, but underlying them will be the idea that when we have the ball, we keep hold of it.

"Players will be encouraged to do that with me as their manager."

Ashford's confidence that he will have players capable of performing how he wants them to comes from the knowledge of the resources that he will have available to him.

He added: "I know a lot about the club from its recent history and I know quite a few of the players there already.

"That is a positive for me.

"I was at Bowers and Pitsea at the start of last season and then at Heybridge Swifts and between those two jobs I came up against Witham four times.

"I also watched them play five or six times in the early part of the season as I was out looking at players so I know plenty about the players there already.

"I do like to invest a lot of time watching all sorts of games.

"It's a real passion for me and it's not always in our league as it's quite often in other leagues looking at players who may have been recommended to me."