Witham Town have made their fourth management change of the season, following the sacking of Paul Adams last Friday and the immediate appointment of new joint bosses, Bobby Harding and Tony Kinsella.

Adams, the former Tilbury boss, joined the struggling Ryman League Division Two side early in October but failed to halt the club's dreadful run of defeats.

He had taken over after Burnham Ramblers manager Colin Wallington had initially accepted the job but within days, did a U-turn and returned to the Schweppes Essex Senior League outfit.

Town had started the season with George Young as their manager, but after a disastrous start to the current campaign plus an appalling disciplinary record, he was sacked.

Now Harding, who has recently been first team coach at the club, joins up with former Ipswich Town and Millwall professional Tony Kinsella, who has been player-coach at Stanway Rovers, to try and stop Town's slide towards relegation.

Witham Town chairman, Ron Macy, explaining the latest sacking, said: "We could see no way that our run of poor results could be reversed without a change at the top.

"Paul Adams did his best to pull things round but, crucially, he was unable to attract experienced, quality players that the club desperately needs to make the first team competitive again and to begin the long haul to safety which is our priority," he said.

Mr Macy added: "I believe that the pooling of the top level playing and coaching experience which both Bobby and Tony possess will provide us with a winning management team and that their respective reputations in the game will attract the higher quality players we need."

The new duo had a tough baptism on Saturday when their makeshift side, which included the return of Spa Road favourite Alan Vincent, from Chelmsford City, as captain, went down 2-0 to Metropolitan Police.

More new faces are expected when Town take on near neighbours Wivenhoe Town at Spa Road in a league match on Monday (December 27), kick off 11.30am.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.