TIM LURED BACK TO COACHING BY LEAGUE

Former Gloucester full-back Tim Smith has taken over the coaching reins at Gordon League. Current coach Paul Bright has been forced to step down due to work commitments, and Smith will be in charge for League's first Western Counties North clash of 2008.

They host Berry Hill at Hempsted Lane today looking to improve on their eighth place position in the second half of the season.

Smith already has some involvement with League thanks to Cormack O'Donaghue starting up a thirds/veterans team that he was persuaded to play for.

But, while he has run a handful of sessions for the Hempsted Lane club in recent seasons, he has not been seriously involved in coaching for around six years.

Back then he coached Worcester and the county Under-21s, but he then took almost a complete break from the sport - with his appearances for the Cherry Pickers and League's thirds the only exception.

"After I finished at Worcester I wanted a bit of me-time to be honest, and I enjoyed having my weekends and evenings to myself," said Smith.

"I'm always about at Gordon League and they are always nagging me to get more involved. I didn't want to see them without a coach.

"I'm looking forward to getting back into it, but it's typical my first training session and match in charge are in freezing cold conditions.

"It's going to be a big challenge finding that level of commitment again but I've agreed to take on the job until the end of the season and then assess things again then."

Smith had his first training session with the players on Thursday night and is the first to admit it is going to take him time to make his mark.

"I'm looking forward to putting my ideas into practice but I've never actually seen the first team play, so I can't really set any targets," he said.

"I've no idea of the players' strengths and weaknesses so I don't know what I'm dealing with yet but I'm looking forward to finding out."