BORO new boy Joel Byrom can t wait to link up with his new team-mates after completing a �15,000 move from Northwich Victoria. Byrom, who made his England C debut in Tuesday night s defeat to Belgium at Oxford, had been on Graham Westley s radar since Jan

BORO new boy Joel Byrom can't wait to link up with his new team-mates after completing a �15,000 move from Northwich Victoria.

Byrom, who made his England C debut in Tuesday night's defeat to Belgium at Oxford, had been on Graham Westley's radar since January but Boro had failed to get their man until last week and the former Clitheroe man is keen to make up for lost time.

"I'm delighted. It's been around for a while and I'm just delighted it's done now. I can't wait to get started," he told The Comet.

Byrom was involved in Northwich's unsuccessful battle against relegation this season and the former Blackburn Rovers trainee admits it will be nice to be pushing for honours at the other end of the table.

"It'll be great to be in a team that's pushing for promotion and pushing for trophies and I just want to be part of that and be part of the success. I'm sure we'll be pushing for things."

The 22-year-old will link up at Boro with former manager Dino Maamria and team-mate Mark Roberts and Byrom says he's spoken to both of them about the club.

"I spoke to both of them this week. I was down on Thursday before the open-top bus parade so I had a chat with both of them and they love it so I can't wait to join them."

Westley has a plethora of midfielders at his disposal and Byrom knows he's going to have to work hard to force his way into the Boro starting XI, but it's a challenge he's looking forward to.

"That's what you need - in a good side there is always going to be competition for places. I'm just going to work hard and hopefully I'll get in the team and keep my spot."

Byrom played 55 minutes in England C's 1-0 defeat to Belgium and the midfielder said he enjoyed it despite the result.

"It was good but it's just a shame about the result. First it was a bit of a shock [the call-up] I thought it was joke. I was on standby so I was delighted and I just couldn't wait to get started and get involved," he added.

"They [Belgium] passed it about well but I thought we coped with it.

"I thought we pressed them high, we got the ball and we used it when we got it and we were very unlucky in the end to be honest.