Cambridge United have completed the signing of former Coventry City and Norwich City defender Elliott Ward on a short term deal until January.
Ward, 34, has now officially put pen to paper at the Abbey Stadium having trained with the U's for much of the last three months and also featured in a number of the Club's pre-season fixtures ahead of the 2019/20 campaign.
The vastly experienced centre-back adds further competition to Colin Calderwood's defensive options and he brings a wealth of know-how having played predominantly at Championship level over his 16-year career to date which has included over 300 professional appearances.
Starting his career at West Ham United, Ward's list of former clubs include Doncaster Rovers, Coventry City, Preston North End, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Huddersfield Town, MK Dons and Norwich City, where he not only crossed paths with U's Head Coach Calderwood at Carrow Road but also achieved promotion to the Premier League with the Canaries.
Having had the time to settle in at the U's, Ward is pleased to have now confirmed Cambridge United as his next port of call and commented:
"I'm very happy and it's been great here since day one.
"I'm already settled in and there's nothing new to me with all the lads, and it's the same with the staff too who have accommodated me into the group so well. I know the manager and that's what interested me at first, but since being here I've really found there's a good squad too.
"It's a team that wants to do well and I've certainly seen that over the last 14 weeks, which is probably the longest trial I've ever had!
"I personally still have the will to do the best I can and to achieve. I want to help the team in performances as well as the experience I can add to the group. Now I'm ready to get going properly."
Head Coach Colin Calderwood commented: "Elliott has been here since the start of pre-season and for various reasons it wasn't possible to conclude anything until now. He has good experience - four promotions to his name - and the experience of that added to the level he's played at is good.
"We'll work on the match conditioning so he finds a match tempo and a rhythm and we'll progress him through, because he's still fit enough and has the ambition to play. We feel he'll add value between now and January."