RUGBY Town have continued their squad rebuild with the signing of defender Ryan Bridgewater.
The 26-year-old previously worked under current Valley boss Grant Joshua at Lye Town.
And the centre-back helped Lye win promotion from Step Five before the Stourbridge club established themselves in the Northern Premier League Midlands.
He won Lye’s manager’s and players’ player of the season awards in 2023/24 only to suffer an ACL injury towards the end of the season.
Bridgewater has since worked his way back to full fitness through spells with Gornal Athletic and Dudley Town.
Joshua said: “It’s not one that, as a serious football club, we could even think about turning down once it became clear Ryan wanted to join us given my relationship with him.
“We have outstanding options all over the pitch. This is a deal we wanted to do last season and we needed it, but timing and circumstance weren’t right.
“I’ll put my neck on the line with some confidence with this signing. It’s no risk, it’s gold.
“Ryan is up there with the top centre-halves at Step Four, never mind Step Five.
“And if it wasn’t for his injury in my last game at Lye, he’d be at Step Three looking upwards without any doubt or hesitation in my mind.
“At 26 he’s not even in his prime years yet.”
