THEY say there's no better judge of a centre-half than a centre-forward.

So that's why Havant & Waterlooville have taken Dean Holdsworth's advice to sign defender Matt Gray from Conference South rivals Hayes.

Gray, 24, was skipper of the west London club and made a huge impression on former Bolton and Wimbledon star Holdsworth, Hawks' player/assistant manager and top scorer, when they came face to face last season.

"Dean rated Matt the toughest centre-half he played against last season," said Hawks secretary Trevor Brock.

"Our backline needed toughening up because we were conceding goals for fun last season.

"Bairdy (manager Ian Baird) wanted a no-nonsense defender who could put himself about a bit and give us a strong spine.

"Matt's only 24, but he'd been skipper of Hayes for three seasons and played in the Conference for them."

London-born Gray started his career at Tottenham and was also at Cardiff City before joining Hayes from Barnet in October 2001.

His first two seasons at Church Road were plagued by injury, but he had an excellent, injury-free 2004/5 campaign.

Hawks, meanwhile, have parted company with flying winger Michael Gordon, who failed to impress at Westleigh Park despite a pedigree background with Arsenal and MK Dons.