ANDY Darnton has left his coaching post at Sydenhams Premier strugglers Christchurch.

“I’m not jumping ship – far from it,” said the Southampton-based former Bashley co-manager.

“Christchurch are looking to the future and they want to go in a more local direction and, with that in mind, I decided to leave.

“With all due respect, I couldn’t see where the club was going. I think they want to promote some of the players who are coming towards the end of their careers to do a bit of training.”

After a distinguished defensive career, Darnton moved into coaching/management with Andover, Romsey and Verwood before teaming up with Graham Speechley-Price at Bashley last summer. But he left in October after Speechley-Price had texted him to say Bash were looking for a manager who could bring finances and players into the club.

Reflecting on a somewhat unsettled season personally, Darnton said: “I felt I could make a difference at Bashley, but I wasn’t given a free rein.

“At Christchurch it’s an uphill task for (manager) Adie Arnold and a difficult one to get right. It’s 30 miles for me to travel down there, so to turn up and find only eight players at training when they all live on the doorstep was difficult to get my head round. But then, if the club’s not paying...”

With eight games to play, Priory remain just two points clear of the drop zone after Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Horndean (Gary Austin, Robbie Pittman, Matt Andrews).

Six of those crucial showdowns are at Hurn Bridge but, with title-chasers Petersfield and Winchester City the visitors in their last two games, assistant manager Danny Saxby knows swift action is needed.

“The ball’s in our court,” he said. “Luckily Fareham and Totton & Eling keep getting beaten as well.

“We saw this weekend’s results and felt like we had got out of jail again.

“We have pencilled in a couple of games that we fancy ourselves to take points from, but we need to do it sooner rather than later.”