Boreham Wood’s first recruit of the summer Scott Thomas says the opportunity to earn a personal promotion was too good to turn down.

The midfielder joined Ian Allinson’s side at the end of last month and admitted the chance to play in the Conference South after just missing out with Chesham United was decisive for him.

Thomas, 24, was part of the Generals side which was beaten 3-1 by St Albans City in the Southern Premier Division final, condemning the Buckinghamshire outfit to another season outside the Conference.

“For me there’d be no reason to leave Chesham if I didn’t have an offer from above,” stated Thomas. “I wasn’t expecting to have any interest in me, because I don’t think that’s how players work.

“Once I knew of the interest, even before speaking to the club, it already seemed attractive to play at the level you’ve worked all season to try and reach.”

Thomas continued: “It’s a strange feeling I’ve got in this off-season because of that [winning a personal promotion]. The last three seasons I’ve had at Chesham we’ve finished in the play-offs and last year we reached the final.

“For me to still have that shot at playing at the next level is great but it was still a disappointing end to last season because we worked so hard throughout the year.

“Everyone was just gutted because as a group, we would have liked to give the Conference South a shot. It’s football, at Chesham there’s about four of us who have managed to get moves into the next level. And although you’re going to miss seeing each other as friends every week, you want to push yourself as high as you can and there’s no real option really.”

Wood boss Allinson wasted little time in securing the midfielder’s signature after Chesham’s play-off final defeat and Boreham Wood’s desire to sign him impressed Thomas.

“I think that was one of the main factors which made me choose Boreham Wood [the feeling of being wanted] because it was literally one or two days after they’d seen me play in the final of the play-offs they wanted to start negotiating, which made me feel they were keen to get me on board as soon as possible,” explained Thomas.

“He [Allinson] felt that I could fill the missing gap that they found last season and he was keen to get me on board.

“I felt wanted. I went to meet with them at the ground and the whole set-up, the people I spoke to, the people working there, felt very professional and I felt that it would be a good club to join and a good club to challenge myself to play for.”

Thomas added: “I was made aware of interest from St Albans and obviously Chesham wanted to keep me. It was Boreham Wood who I felt I could give it a real good go with. “It was the professionalism, the new stand, all the facilities; it just seemed right."

Currently studying photography at university in Hendon, Thomas is setting his sights high with the Wood: “I don’t normally set goals but as a new player at a new club, the first thing I would like is to play in the starting 11.

“As far as the team goes, you want to do as well as possible and finish as high up the league as possible. Every team in the league at this stage would wish for promotion, so I guess promotion is the aim.”