FORMER Bishops Cleeve boss Paul Collicutt has taken over from Shaun Cunnington as manager of Evesham United.

Cunnington resigned, along with assistant Paul Tomlinson, following Tuesday’s 3-0 home defeat to 10-man Mangotsfield United in Calor Southern Football League Division One South and West.

The ex-West Brom midfielder had only been in charge since May but called it a day with the Robins perched close to the relegation zone with two wins from 12 league games.

But the club wasted little time in appointing a successor with Collicutt offered the job just hours after Cunnington’s departure.

He becomes Evesham’s fourth manager in two years, following Matt Clarke, Paul West and Cunnington, and takes charge of Saturday’s home match against Shortwood United (3pm) who beat Aldershot in the FA Cup this week.

Chairman Jim Cockerton said Cunnington’s decision came out of the blue and the club committee opted for Collicutt, who made the shortlist when Clarke and Cunnington got the job, rather than repeat the recruitment process.

The United chief said: “I was surprised. I know results haven’t been going that well and I would be lying if we weren’t concerned about them.

“We are an ambitious club and are paying a more than reasonable budget at our level.

“We have got the facilities and everything is in place for the first team to move forward but, for some reason, we can’t manage it.

“It was democratically decided to offer the job to Paul and he’s accepted. He got Bishops Cleeve to this level on a small budget and we are hoping he will do a job for us.”

On Tuesday, Ryan Bath put Mangotsfield ahead in the 50th minute and then took over in goal after keeper Kevin Sawyer was sent off.

Ben Hunt and Josh Egan added further goals for the visitors.

Evesham: Bateman, Wilson, Mansell, Sherry, Dovey, Halsall, Tambling (Botfield 70), Barnfield, Lewars, Smith, Brown. Subs not used: Jackson, Holloway, Magee.

Attendance: 173.