Northampton Town have signed youth team striker Joe Benjamin on an 18 month professional contract.

18 year old Benjamin joined the club's Centre of Excellence three years ago, having been spotted by the club's scouts playing local football in London. He had previously been released by West Ham United.

He has since enjoyed a work experience spell at Brackley Town, and made his first team debut as a substitute against Millwall earlier this season.

"We decided to offer Joe an 18-month contract and we were pleased that he decided to sign that," said boss Stuart Gray.

"He has now got a lot of hard work in front of him and he has obviously still got a lot to prove but he is definitely a player with a lot of potential.

"He's done well to get himself into the first team squad and he realises now that if he puts a lot of hard work in he has got an opportunity to try and get into the first team.

"When I first came to the football club the youth team trained at Moulton College and one of the first things I tried to do was to bring the youth team and the first team together. That has worked out quite well and the youth team now train with us every day.

"That has given me a good opportunity to look at the youngsters and I think they have benefited from training with the first team as well.

"Geoff Harrop and Sean Parrish have done a fantastic job and the more players we can have coming up through the youth system the better."