CHICKERELL chief Steve Coward has hailed fellow Senior League manager Marco Nott.

The United boss was full of praise for the way Nott managed Balti House in their first season in the division and battled against his side in the title shake-up.

Balti spent a large portion of the campaign as table-toppers before being pipped at the post by winners Holt United and Chickerell, who edged out Nott's men for second place.

But Coward was eager to comment on one of his rival bosses, insisting that Nott had done an excellent job.

“I’d just like to congratulate Marco on his first season in the Senior League with his team,” the Stalls manager said.

“He has got a very good side together and I think he has done fantastically.

“I have spoken to him and he is involved with the Dorset side now. He is one of the nice guys in football at our level.

“With the players he had at the start of the season I thought they were always going to be strong. To gel their squad together and only lose four league games all season is a fantastic effort on their part.

“They (Balti) have done very well and we had some good games against them which makes it all worthwhile on a Saturday.

“Every time we have played them there has been a buzz around the game, which is what you want. We had a battle every time we played them.”