Donnelly shakes things up in search of change in fortune

Shoreham boss Sammy Donnelly (left) made major changes this past week. Picture by Stephen Goodger

Coach Matt Drew and playing trio Shawn Lyle, Scott Elgar and Joao Andrade have all been released by Mussels manager Donnelly.

Shoreham boss Donnelly felt a change was needed with his side currently 16 points adrift at the bottom of the table.

Time is running out for Mussels to mount an unlikely surge for survival this campaign as they have just 15 games left to climb off the bottom.

A winless run in the league was stretched to 20 matches with a 6-0 defeat at Hythe Town on Saturday.

Mussels were trailing by just a goal at the break but play-off hopefuls Hythe ran out emphatic winners in the end.

“I released coach Matt (Drew) and players Shawn (Lyle), Scott (Elgar) and Joao (Andrade) at the end of last week,” Donnelly said.

“All four were having to travel a fair amount of distance and weren’t able to make training sessions all of the time.

“The way I’m going now is if players are not training then they won’t be involved in the starting team or even on a matchday.

“I’ve got one eye on next season now as well and want to build a team all pulling in the same direction.

“We went with a different system at Hythe and it worked in the first 45 minutes. They scored a couple soon after the restart and our heads dropped a little after that.”

Darren Oidaker’s goal was the difference between the teams at half-time on Saturday.

Zak Ansah struck twice after the restart, with Jerson Dos Santos, Kieron Campbell and Oidaker (his second) on the scoresheet aswell.

Mussels had the chance to train twice this week ahead of what looks a crunch clash on Saturday.

Shoreham make the trip to strugglers Molesey, who are a place above them.

The sides have managed just seven wins between them all season (Shoreham, two and Molesey, five) so it appears to be a real scrap.

Despite the current bottom two facing off, Donnelly insists his side team will not approach it any differently.

He said: “Every game I go in wanting to win, and the same will apply on Saturday.

“The match earlier in the season finished level and I’m expecting it to be another tight match.

“Saturday’s defeat at Hythe proved to be a long day, when you take travelling time and the result into account.

“This team deserves to get back to winning ways but we know how hard we’ll have to work to get all three points at Molesey.”

Donnelly revealed he does not expect to replace departing coach Drew but thanked him for his efforts at the club this season.