Stand-In Sam Is Not Sure Of Stones Job Despite Escape Act

The Stones survived on Saturday, a 3-2 win at Oldham Athletic the crowning glory on a fantastic final few weeks for the National League club.

Things looked ropey when Cox replaced David Noble with 12 days to go and although their sensational finish wowed supporters, the club will sit down with candidates in the weeks ahead after vowing to conduct a forensic search.

Following the win at Boundary Park, pictured, which confirmed their status for another year, the stand in said: “I’m absolutely elated. Not a lot of people thought we would stay up, but we have - it’s all down to positive vibes and hard work.”

Now in a statement, the club confirmed the timeline as they try to finding the right man. It read: “The Board of Directors would like to express our deepest gratitude to Sam Cox for stepping into the role of interim manager for the crucial final five games of this season.

“His leadership, passion, determination, and unwavering commitment have been absolutely instrumental in ensuring this club retained its status in the National League for a fifth consecutive season.

“We deeply thank Sam for accepting this significant challenge and leading the team in such an exemplary way. He has been a credit to himself and the football club he holds dear to his heart.

“The board will now commence the process of recruiting our next permanent first-team manager, and will be speaking to Sam amongst others in relation to this role. This will be an exhaustive search and we will leave no stone unturned in the search for the best candidate to lead this club into an exciting phase in its history.”

PHOTO TOM PIFFLE