Twitter messages from Ebbsfleet supporters helped convince striker Matt Godden to sign his two-year contract at Stonebridge Road.

The 22-year-old became a fans’ favourite during two loans spells with the Fleet when they were a Conference Premier club. And even when he returned to parent club Scunthorpe United and was then loaned out elsewhere, Godden’s tweet timeline stayed red and white.

He said: "Everyone knows how I feel about the club. That’s down to the fans, more than anything. They made me feel welcome.

"I was forever getting messages from the fans, when I wasn’t at Ebbsfleet, on Twitter, asking about me. That was brilliant. When you feel wanted like that, by a club, it stays with you."

Godden spent five years with Scunthorpe but he spent most of that time out on loan, including a two-month spell at Dartford last season. The Iron's promotion to League 1 in April meant Godden would have been a peripheral figure again in 2014-15.

He said: “Scunthorpe offered me a contract at the end of last season but with my situation up there, I was dying to play football. I didn’t want to sit up there and do nothing.

"I needed a new challenge. It reached a stage where I was a bit fed up of going on loan. I was scoring goals and want to be able to do that all the time, to prove to everyone I can do it.”

And once a new deal at Scunthorpe was off his agenda, Godden only ever had eyes for Ebbsfleet. He watched several games at Stonebridge Road last season and jumped at the chance to get back out on the pitch.

He said: "It’s a club going places and something I want to be part of. It’s a club I know well, a club I’ve been at before and I want to get them back where they belong.

"I’m 22 now and I want to play week in, week out. There were other options but I wanted to be part of what Ebbsfleet are doing.

"I’m not guaranteed to play but I’d like to think I will. I played 19 games in the Conference last year and scored 10 goals. I’d love to see what I could do in 46 games."