CHAIRMAN Lewis Taylor is hoping that the reappointment of Adi Holcombe as Pewsey Vale manager is a statement of commitment from his club to their players.

Former boss Holcombe rejoined Vale as club coach at the beginning of the season, with Taylor and vice-chairman Craig Wall taking charge of first-team matters, but after seven straight defeats in all competitions, Pewsey have moved to reinstate their man to the Ball Road hotseat.

Holcombe had been taking charge of Wiltshire League reserve side Vale of Pewsey but has been replaced by Mark Field and despite the inevitability surrounding the new chief’s appointment, chairman Taylor believes it is the right move at the right time.

“The way things were wasn’t really sustainable and it’s been sped up by our bad start to the season,” said Taylor.

“Both myself and Wally work away from home during the week, so we found it difficult to do things for the club in midweek. You can’t complain about players’ commitment and not have the management fully committed themselves, so this is the right thing to do.

“Adi had been taking the training and doing most of the things himself anyway – he was just taking the reserves on matchdays.

“Last weekend was actually the first game under the new structure and I know that Adi had those pre-match nerves, so I can tell that he’s excited.

“We know that we’re in for a tough old season with both of our teams and we’re going to have to try and develop the youth - just like Devizes have done - but Adi is great with the young players.

“We’ve got two cup games coming up and it’s a good chance for a clean start.”

On Saturday, Vale slipped to their sixth successive defeat in Sydenhams League Division One as they were beaten 2-0 at home by AFC Stoneham.

They travel to Calne Town in the first round of the Wiltshire Senior Cup this weekend.