Camberley Town 2, Badshot Lea 1

STRUGGLING Badshot Lea have parted company with boss Keith Hills.

The decision was made just 24 hours after lowly Lea slipped into the bottom two of the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League with a 2-1 defeat at Krooner Park on Saturday at the hands of their landlords, Camberley Town.

Former Lea striker Gavin Smith will take over the reins alongside Dave Ford until the end of the season.

On Saturday, Mac Ford’s 38th-minute strike was cancelled out either side of half-time by goals from Camberley’s Jamie Hoppitt and a James Baxter penalty as Lea slumped to a third straight league defeat, leaving them with just one win in nine games in all competitions – a run which ultimately cost the likeable Hills his job.

Lea chairman Mark Broad, who is overseeing a move to a new ground in Wrecclesham this year, said: “It’s not something we wanted to do, but given everything going on at the club, including moving to the new ground, we need to ensure our Premier Division status.

“Myself and my fellow directors felt we needed to make the change to give us the best possible chance of this.

“We have initially made a short-term appointment until the end of the season and have appointed two people who are already known to us and have previously been at the club.

“Dave Ford has managed us previously for a nine-year period and has the club at heart and Gav Smith has previously played for us and, more recently, managed at Godalming Town and was also assistant manager at Bracknell Town.

“We have every confidence they will be a success and deliver what we are looking for. This will then give us time to assess the situation at the end of the season.”

Smith, 41, is largely familiar with his squad having played up front for Lea a couple of seasons ago and is looking forward to getting straight to work when he takes his first training session at the military stadium in Aldershot tonight.

“Things aren’t looking great,” he said, “but I know a lot of the lads and I want them all to stay. We’ve got some good players.

“We’ve got to stay positive. The league table is tight but something is not quite right at the moment but we will try to improve quickly. It’s really important we stay in this league, especially with our move to the new ground and the fact we have some exciting times ahead.”

Smith, who was most recently assistant manager of Bostik League South Central Division side Bracknell Town, takes charge for the first time, alongside Dave Ford, at home to Cobham on Saturday.

“Win a couple of games and you can move up the league but still not be out of trouble, so we’ve just got to try to pick up some points as quickly as possible.

“We won’t win all our games, we will drop points, but we have to stay positive,” said Smith, who cited hard work and dedication as essential ingredients to Premier Division survival.

* Badshot Lea’s Premier Division clash with Cobham at Krooner Park on Saturday kicks off at 3pm.