Hollands & Blair will have their new manager in the dugout this weekend.

Chairman and interim boss Paul Piggott said this week they were speeding up the selection process and have appointed Clint Gooding as manager.

Gooding comes in as a replacement for Luke Jessup, who left the club after a poor start to the campaign.

Piggott had stepped in to manage the side on a caretaker basis – initially happy without a timeframe on getting a new manager in – but last weekend’s 5-2 loss against Bearsted was an indicator that they needed to get someone in sharpish.

Gooding has previously been assistant manager at both Blair and Chatham Town under Piggott. He managed Hollands & Blair for a short spell from December 2017, guiding the team to safety after taking over when they were bottom of the table.

He’s since coached at Maidstone and Sittingbourne.

Speaking before Gooding’s appointment, Piggott said: “The one thing that Saturday did prove was that people in football don't like uncertainty, especially players.

“The performance and the attitude was a bit flat.

“I don't want to make excuses for players, but they don't like it, they don't like uncertainty and I think that showed and that has sort of prompted us really to move quicker than we wanted to.”

The club’s committee met on Tuesday and agreed that Gooding was the right man for the job - bringing in Steve Whitton as his assistant.

He’ll take charge with immediate effect.

Blair were down to 15 players for the weekend fixture, drafting in reserves and under-23s, while handing a debut to Eri Akintimehin, who had a hand in both of their goals.

Charlie Weston netted after the Bears had already scored three and Harvey Welford netted a stoppage-time consolation.

Defeat left Blair sitting fourth from bottom in the SCEFL Premier Division with 11 games played.

Southern Counties East Premier Division table