SHOLING have promoted from within to fill the vacant manager’s role for their development squad.

Due to work commitments, Martin Tongs is taking a back seat within the club for the next few months.

That has opened the door for under-18s duo Adrian Grijincu and Paul Gibbs to move up and run the development side, assisted by Ryan Lambert.

The Boatmen’s Hampshire Youth League under-18s have been boosted by Steve Doyle – formerly of Hedge End Youth – and George Dimitrov taking over the reins. There is also an under-18s side in the Southampton Youth League.

A club statement said: “Sholing have been very successful over the years in developing players through their under-18 and reserve sides.

“These include Mike Carter and Lee Wort (now of Gosport Borough), along with current first-team players Owen Roundell, Alex Sawyer, Dan Miller, Dan Dove, Jordan Brooks and Dan Mason.

“We have the infrastructure in place which allows the club to run teams from under-7s up to under-18s. They have been successful at all levels within the youth section, overseen by chairperson Carly Kinsey.

“Carly would like to thank Adrian and Paul for their previous work in developing the youth players through to the adult section.

“Club chairman Gerry Roberts welcomes the moves and see it as a breath of fresh air.

“It has always been the club's ethos to promote from within for both the coaches and on the playing side.

“It is the club’s intention for the first-team coaching staff to work even more closely with the development and youth team coaches to ensure our young players have a chance to progress into the first team."

The Boatmen have places available for aspiring coaches. Email sholing.youth@sky.com for further details.

Sholing, who famously won the FA Vase at Wembley in 2014, make a welcome return to the competition tomorrow (Friday, 7.45pm) at the Silverlake Arena.

Their second qualifying round visitors are United Services Portsmouth of Sydenhams Division One. Standard admission charges apply.