WANDERERS have swooped on crisis-club Weymouth to sign Blue Square Premier League hot-shot Stuart Beavon on a two-and-a half year deal.

They have beaten off a cluster of clubs to land the 24-year-old who has plundered 14 goals for the Terras this season.

Beavon would have become a free agent on Monday because Weymouth’s players have not been paid for seven weeks – but Wanderers jumped the gun by paying the Dorset club a loan fee to guarantee his services first.

He has joined on loan initially and will then ink his deal on a free transfer.

Wanderers have now snapped up two of the most lethal goal machines outside of the Football League in as many months, following the capture of Jon-Paul Pittman from Crawley in January.

Pittman has wasted no time setting Wanderers alight with a Man of the Match performance on his debut in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Bradford and then coming up with the winner in Tuesday’s tussle at Dagenham.

And Taylor is expecting Beavon to make a similar impact.

Beavon scored 70 goals in around 100 performances for Didcot to earn his move to Weymouth and has notched 26 goals in 77 starts for the Dorset club, including eight in his last six games, Taylor said: “I’m very pleased to get him. He’s a good finisher and those players are hard to come by.

“I’m very excited about him. He is a goalscorer, as simple as that. You might not see him for 80 minutes but then he will go and get you the goal that wins the game.

“He’s scored goals in the Conference and he can score goals in the Football League. I wouldn’t have signed either of them if I thought they could just do it in our division, I think they can go on and make the next step as well.”

Taylor saw off plenty of competition to land Beavon.

Wanderers were one of a number of clubs along with Peterborough, Crewe, Bournemouth, Yeovil and Torquay United who were watching the clock tick and were waiting to pounce on Monday when Beavon and the rest of Weymouth’s Blue Square Premier League squad will all be available for free having not been paid in 2009.

The players gave their employers a 14-day payment notice, which expires on Monday, and if they are not reimbursed by then, they can all leave for free.

Earlier in the season, Weymouth turned down a £15,000 cash bid from Bournemouth for Beavon and Taylor did not want to leave anything to chance so he offered the Terras a ‘small’ loan fee until May 23 to make sure he got his man.

Taylor said: “We could have waited until Monday and got him for free but we wanted to make sure we got him and I think we have been fair.”

Taylor used to play with Beavon’s father, also called Stuart, at Spurs and that relationship also helped to swing the deal.

The form of Pittman in his first two matches for Wycombe has shown Blues that there is good value to be had outside of the Football League – and Taylor, who managed Blue Square Premier side Stevenage for six months last season is convinced he has now signed two of the best players there are outside of the League.