Kevin Oakes steps down from Welling Town hot-seat and appoints rookie player-manager Ryan King-Elliott

WELLING TOWN chairman Kevin Oakes has stepped down from the manager’s hot-seat and appointed a rookie player-manager to replace him.

Midfielder Ryan King-Elliott, 24, has been appointed and he has brought in Junior James (head coach) and Bafor Aganbi (coach).

The trio oversaw Saturday’s 2-2 home draw against bottom-of-the-table side Canterbury City, which ended a run of back-to-back defeats at the hands of Punjab United (1-2) and K Sports (0-5).

Canterbury City extended their winless run to 12 league games.  Manager Dan Lawrence has picked up three draws from his seven games at the helm of the Sittingbourne-based club.

Canterbury City (15 points from 26 out of 38 games) and K Sports (22 points from 26 games) are both in the relegation zone.

Welling Town (23 points from 26 games), Bearsted (27 points from 24 games) and Lordswood (28 points from 26 games), are all looking over their shoulder in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division relegation dog-fight.

The Chatham-based Boots travel to Gillingham on Tuesday night to play Hollands & Blair on their recently-laid artificial pitch at Darland Avenue.  The club’s home coming was greeted by a record crowd 660 for Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat to Deal Town.

Oakes has been contacted for a statement.