New Shoreham manager reveals his ambitions for the club

New Shoreham boss Dale Hurley would like to see Shoreham back at the top of the SCFL Premier and pushing for the Bostik League.
Dale HurleyDale Hurley
Dale Hurley

Hurley, along with assistant Matt Langley and former Worthing director Calvin Buckland, took over last week following the departure of Curtis Foster.

The former player did not have the best start to his reign, losing to fellow strugglers Arundel 3-0.

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The result left them joint bottom of the league with Eastbourne United. But Hurley is pleased to be in charge at Middle Road.

He said: “I am pleased to have been given the opportunity, I have played at Shoreham previously and live locally so the club always had an appeal to me.

“I had spoke earlier in the season with one of the owners about coming in, at that time they chose to go with Curtis.

“Calvin, Matt and I had a chat briefly a couple of weeks ago to see where we were all at and if anything could be on the cards in the future. Four days later we accepted the Shoreham job knowing we had a huge task ahead of us.”

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He said: “Shoreham are an ambitious club which should be attractive to anybody wanting to manage.

“I had interviewed at another County League club in the summer but their ambition didn’t match my own. I’d like to see Shoreham back at the top end of County Prem and pushing for the Isthmian league. - Hayward’s Heath have laid a pathway to prove it is possible to succeed in that division too if the foundations are correct.£

Hurley and his management team are realistic about where things are going this season and knows how he wants his team to play.

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He said: “With a few days before the deadline and the position we are in, we are realistic with recruitment this season.

“We’re not in a favourable position to attract players but we have a great bunch at the club already and with a couple of additions going forward I feel we’d have enough to compete in our remaining fixtures.”

He added: “We will continue to play with caution this season, two goals in 13 games is unacceptable but we can’t throw caution to the wind and concede easily.

“We were competitive against Arundel and had a couple of good chances until they scored twice in quick succession. We will encourage players to be brave in possession and create chances offensively.”

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Hurley is delighted to have the experienced Buckland on board. He said: “Calvin has a wealth of experience on and off the pitch.

“His work behind the scenes helped Worthing’s reputation grow locally and they are now in an enviable position to many clubs in Sussex. Calvin also has a lot of contacts on the pitch. His knowledge of young players will be vital to the set up going forward at Shoreham.”

Hurley’s task doesn’t get any easier this week when Shoreham host league leaders Chichester City on Saturday.

He said: “Realistically we know we are in a tough position, Arundel was a big game and we fell short on the day.

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“We still have 15 points to play for and whilst mathematically possible we will do everything we can to pinch enough points to survive.

“With champions-in-waiting Chichester City coming to Middle Road Saturday we know we are in for a tough game but I am looking forward to the challenge.”