BASINGSTOKE Town boss Jason Bristow has secured the final piece of his squad with the signing of experienced midfielder Neil Barrett.

The 31-year-old has played all of his career, except for a short spell at Havant, at a higher level than Basingstoke Town and will be an excellent addition to the team.

The Tooting-born midfielder was part of the Chelsea youth programme before he joined Portsmouth in 2001.

After 26 appearances and two goals for the south coast side he moved north of the border to play in the Scottish Premier League for Dundee and then Livingston.

He returned south in 2007 to join a Woking side managed by former Town boss Frank Gray in the Conference Premier.

From there he moved to Kent and signed for fellow Premier side Ebbsfleet and won the FA Trophy in 2008 at Wembley.

A year later, he signed for York City and scored in their 3-1 defeat to Stoke City in the FA Cup in January 2010.

After five games at Havant in the early part of the 2011/12 season, he returned to Ebbsfleet from where he signed for Town.

Bristow, who has been tracking the midfielder for number of weeks, said: “We made the initial phone call about five weeks ago. He is a player who brings some much needed experience to the side.

“He knows how to win football matches and I am looking for him to manage the game from midfield.”

“This now completes our squad and I am looking forward to starting pre-season training on Tuesday (tomorrow) with everyone there.”