MATTHEW Price said last week’s 9-0 defeat at home to Causeway United was the final straw in his decision to stand down as manager of struggling Gornal Athletic.

The Peacocks are currently bottom of the Midland Alliance table with just three wins from 26 starts.

Price took over the reins from Brian Knight with Gornal already deep in relegation trouble and has struggled to make an impact. Price said: “I’ve been working seven days a week to try to improve things but after losing 9-0 at home I felt it was the best thing for myself and the club.

“We had a death in the family before the Causeway game and my wife was very upset but I went to football and then stood there on the touchline in the pouring rain thinking ‘I really should be at home’ and that sort of put it into perspective.

“A couple of times before I had thought about leaving but then I didn’t think we were a million miles away and I’m not the sort of person who walks away quite easily.

“It’s been frustrating because everyone at the club has been great and I desperately want to give them a successful team but I didn’t feel I was getting anything back from the players for the time that was being put in. We gave them instructions of how to play against Causeway but they just went out and played how they wanted to.

“The whole time I’ve been at Gornal we’ve never really been able to put a full strength team out but it was always going to be tough having had two managers in the same season, and all the players who left in the summer made it even tougher with effectively building two new teams in one season.”

Price will be staying around the club in the short term as they look to appoint a third manager of the season but already has an eye on the future.

“I had tough times at Bilston then went 19 months unbeaten at Sutton so I’m using that as motivation, and I’ll be contacting a few clubs to see if they need a hand coaching.”

Experienced managers interested in the position can contact chairman Kevin Williams at gornalathleticfc1@hotmail.co.uk