WAYNE Mew has stepped aside as manager of win-less Sydenhams Premier basement boys Totton & Eling – at least for the time being.

The former Eastleigh reserves and Romsey Town boss was appointed in the summer following the departure of Stuart and Matt Hussey.

But with the club in dire straits both on and off the pitch, Mew admitted it was “one big struggle” and stood down in the wake of Saturday’s 5-2 loss at Andover – the Millers’ 15th league reverse of the season.

Chairman Andy Tipp and senior player Lee Thorne have stepped into the breach, but Tipp has not given up hope of Mew returning in the new year.

He said: “Wayne’s had a bad year personally and, on top of that, the team’s not been performing as well as expected.

“He’s taken a back step for the minute and I don’t know if he’ll come back or not. There are no hard feelings. He needs to spend time with his family and maybe he’ll look at it again after Christmas.

“We’ll see then if Wayne changes his mind or if he’s enjoying his freedom too much. There’s no point trying to push someone if he’s not happy.”

Whatever happens, the Millers will not be advertising the post.

If it comes to it, Tipp and Thorne will run things until the end of the season with some much appreciated help from ex-Saint Jo Tessem who is still playing at the age of 42.

“Lee Thorne’s injured at the moment and he wanted to be manager before Wayne took the job, but we felt we lacked a bit of experience which is why we brought Wayne in,” Tipp explained.

“But Lee’s keen and he’s coming towards the end of his playing career and we’ve also got Jo Tessem who wants to help out.

“Jo’s a great guy and not one to seek publicity. To talk to him you’d never know he’d played for years in the Premier League.

“He’s played at the top level and to have someone like that involved with the club is a big help, it really is.”

After starting the season with an inexperienced young side, T&E have slowly seen some familiar faces coming back to the fold.

The likes of Steve Jenkin, Danny Steer and Adam Lowther have returned in recent weeks and the Marwood brothers, Steve and Chris, are still around, albeit that they are not currently playing.

“We’ve got some of the old faces back,” said Tipp. “They’re not as young as they used to be but they don’t want to see the club go down having worked so hard to get us up there in the first place. They’re good players who know the Wessex League inside out, but it’s whether they can play on a regular basis.

“When you’re in your 30s with a wife, children, a mortgage and a job, it’s not as easy to fit football in.”

T&E put in a decent performance at home to Follands on Tuesday, albeit that they lost a tight game 2-1 at Millers Park.

And Tipp believes that if they can repeat that form in tomorrow’s ‘six-pointer’ at third-to-bottom Christchurch, that longed-for first league win could be on the cards.