Former Gillingham midfielder Nicky Southall appointed head coach at Southern Counties East club Lydd Town just two weeks after leaving Lordswood

Nicky Southall has made a quick return to football management as the new head coach of Lydd Town.

The former Gillingham midfielder takes charge just a couple of weeks after leaving fellow Southern Counties East side Lordswood.

Lydd, beaten 2-1 by Rusthall on Saturday, are bottom of the Premier Division, but Southall is ready to use his experience to lead them up the table.

They’ve been without a permanent boss since Scott Porter resigned on the eve of the new season, with defender Ryan Smith taking caretaker charge.

Southall will be in the dugout when Lydd host Rochester in the Challenge Cup this Saturday.

His first league game comes at home to former club Lordswood the following weekend.

“I’m looking forward to the new challenge at Lydd,” said Southall, who’s watched the last two games.

“I’ve worked with a few of the lads before, James Rogers, Stefan Payne and Charlie Dickens.

“They’ve got some good players who’ve played at levels above, so I think the team are in a false position.

“We’ve got games in hand, so we just need to go on a little run leading into Christmas and see where we’re at.

“I believe with myself, and the people I’m going to be bringing in, that’ll we’ll hopefully climb the league quickly. We’ve just got to get organised and get a bit of confidence in them.

“They want to train more regularly, which is a good thing, because I want to earn my money on the training ground.

“The firepower is a joke for this level.

“We just need to get the fitness levels up and I want a bit more pace in the team, some quick wide players, getting on the outside putting balls in the box for these forwards.

“I’m excited to be back involved again. You can’t get any lower than being bottom of the league, so we’ve just got to look