Ash off to a flyer (From Dorset Echo)

Ash off to a flyer

9:09am Monday 22nd March 2010 in

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MANAGER Ashley Vickers celebrated his new permanent role at the Avenue Stadium with victory over Weston-super-Mare on Saturday.

The 37-year-old was last week handed the reins and a new two-year contract by chairman Shaun Hearn after a successful stint as caretaker-boss.

And to mark the occasion, Vickers’ men extended their unbeaten home run in Blue Square South to 10 games, courtesy of a 4-2 win against the relegation-threatened Seagulls.

Vickers said: “I’m thankful we have a chairman who’s brought stability to the club. I’m grateful for the opportunity and I’ll do my best to justify his faith.”

Reflecting on Saturday’s triumph, he added: “We stuck to our task but without being disrespectful to Weston-super-Mare it would’ve been nice to have won 4-0, but that’s me wanting everything to go our way.

“When teams score against us at home it’s almost a shock because our home form is ever so good. The first goal was poor because we didn’t win our challenges in the build-up while the second goal was a set-piece and we lost our runner.

“They need wins and threw caution to the wind so we had to make sure we were organised and solid – which we were for the most part.

“Every team in this league carries a threat and they caused us one or two problems. But over the balance of play we could’ve had more than four.

“It’s a good victory and one that puts us pretty much safe now, which is a massive step and a great achievement for the lads – I’m proud of all of them.”

Ryan Moss, Matt Groves, Steve Devlin and a Josh Ford own goal made up the Magpies’ tally.

Of his goalscorers, Vickers said: “On their day Groover and Mossy can be two of the best strikers in the league. Groover has been outstanding in the last five games while Mossy was immense on Saturday.

“Some of us thought Devs probably wasn’t quite his usual creative self but his endeavour is unquestionable.”

Saturday also saw Mark Jermyn, Nathan Walker, Kyle Critchell and Moss commit to next season’s challenge with James Coutts agreeing terms on a two-year stay.

Jermyn and Critchell have penned two-year contracts while Walker and Moss have signed one-year deals.

Vickers added: “It’s great to have those five on board. We’ll get others signed up gradually. I’m talking to Ryan Hill and Neil Martin as well, there’s good depth to the squad and they’ve all earned the right to stay.”

* Harry Montacute, who has been on loan at Gillingham Town, is to cancel his contract by mutual consent so he can stay with the Gills until the end of the season – at which point he is expected to then re-join the Magpies.