PEWSEY Vale chief Adi Holcombe hopes his Pewsey Vale charges are looking to the new year with renewed confidence after they finally clinched their first league win of the season last weekend.

After weeks and months of frustration, Vale recovered from letting a two-goal lead slip to dispatch Totton & Eling 4-2 on Saturday, sealing a first Sydenhams League Division One triumph in 12 attempts.

Ricky Franklin’s scissor-kick and a strike from debutant Aidan Maycock were cancelled out by a brace from the visitors’ Samuel House but Adam Field headed home from a corner kick to restore Vale’s lead before youngster Eden Bunce saw his strike deflect into the net late on.

Holcombe’s men are now just two points off second-from-bottom East Cowes Victoria with three games in hand and the Ball Road boss, who took over as manager in October, is hoping that his side are on an upward trajectory.

“I’ve had seven games in charge and we’ve done alright in some of the cup games but it was definitely a long time coming,” said Holcombe, whose team travel to near neighbours Amesbury Town on Wednesday, December 30 (kick-off 7.45pm) in their last outing of 2015.

“I don’t know what went on at the club last season but it’s definitely all about rebuilding for us now.

“We have played well at times but we’ve given away some silly goals and what I needed was for people to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in.

“Aiden Maycock has joined us from Hungerford Town Swifts and got a goal in his first game and Connor Marsden, who’s only 16, got really stuck in and was the man of the match.

“When we got pegged back to 2-2, I did worry because of the season we’ve had but we got two late goals and it made the lads’ Christmas drinks so much better.”

Holcombe added: “Our game against Amesbury is a local derby and a really important one for us.

“Hopefully, we can go on the rise now and if we can win that game, it would be a big thing because our away form hasn’t been good.

“We play East Cowes twice in the next month and we’re not too far away from a lot of the teams just above us in the table.”