Winger Steve Spriggs admits the lure of playing higher-level football convinced him to swap King's Lynn Town for Boston United.

The Linnets' top goalscorer decided to leave The Walks at the weekend after the Blue Square North outfit – who play two levels above Lynn – became the latest club to be impressed by his outstanding displays this season.

Spriggs insists he thought long and hard about the move before deciding the opportunity to join Boston was simply too good to turn down.

The 24-year-old, who has scored 18 times this term, said: 'It's definitely not about the money. It's about the opportunity to play as high as I can. I'd like to play above Blue Square North and this could be the perfect stepping stone.

'You don't know what's around the corner. Playing at a higher level is what I wanted and a chance to jump two leagues doesn't come around a lot.

'I'm not getting any younger. I don't want to get to my 30s, finish playing, and say I had a really good time at King's Lynn but wonder if I could have played at Conference North. Boston are a big club, an ex-Football League one, and it's still run like one in some respects. No disrespect, but King's Lynn can't offer that at the moment as they've not played in the League.'

Spriggs left Norfolk towards the end of last season to play professional football in Sweden but returned in the summer to spearhead Lynn's fine start to life at Step Four and a memorable run in the FA Trophy.

The right-sided midfielder's departure comes as a huge blow having scored a stunning 63 goals in just 129 appearances, but boss Gary Setchell is already planning for life without his wing-wizard.

The Lynn boss said: 'The Steve Spriggs and King's Lynn love affair is over. He's gone. We didn't want him to go, that's clear for all to see as he's been a great player for us, but he's gone. He's had his goodbyes and his well-wishes and now we need to move on quickly as we've got a big game on Saturday (away at Coalville).

'Last season I panicked a bit when he left and signed Kieron Davies and while it worked to a point he was no Steve Spriggs. This time I'll take my time. We've got players who can play in that position. Plus we're certainly not a one-man team. Can we get in the play-offs without Steve Spriggs? Yes.'

One wideman who looks set to remain at The Walks is Jamie Thurlbourne. Wisbech Town boss Steve Appleby insisted his hopes of signing the left-footer remained 'in the balance', despite Setchell saying otherwise, until the midfielder confirmed he was remaining at Lynn yesterday afternoon.

Setchell said: 'Wisbech put seven days in for Jamie so I let him speak to them. I always waive seven-day approaches because I don't want the speculation. I let Graham Drury speak to Spriggsy and I let Apps (Appleby) speak to Jamie. Why make a player wait seven days to speak to someone?

'They're going to talk to them and if they're going to go they're going to go. I knew full well Jamie wouldn't leave us to take a step back. He'll still a big player for us and he knows there's not another club, especially at Step Five, around here like ours.'

Lynn's game at Romulus last night fell foul of the weather, as did Lowestoft's scheduled home clash with Canvey Island in the Ryman League.