NEW Gravesend & Northfleet boss Liam Daish is relishing the challenge of taking charge at Stonebridge Road.

Daish, who had an unbeaten four-game spell as caretaker manager at Welling this season, spent four years as manager at Havant & Waterlooville, twice taking the Hawks to the first round of the FA Cup and guiding them to the semi-final of the FA Trophy in 2003.

The Fleet made the decision after conducting second interviews on Wednesday. They were clearly impressed by Daish's drive and ambition and the no-nonsense defender certainly takes that style into management.

In his first interview since the appointment, Daish said: "It's going to be a great challenge for me. My next step was always to try and manage in the Conference and I nearly did it at Havant. It's great to be involved at this level and I'm going to give it my best shot."

Daish's immediate aim is to ensure the Fleet maintain their Conference status and he insisted the current squad all start with a clean slate.

"There's ability in the camp, we have to get back to doing the things that made the club successful at the start of the season.

"We need to pick up points firstly, we can't afford to look too far ahead, the next thing is to get the security that we are playing in the Nationwide Conference next season.

"I want to give this job my best shot, they've got a good fan base and I had great vibes from the chairman and secretary about how they want the club to go forward."

The new boss faces a tough task in his first game with a trip to Carlisle on Saturday, but the former Portsmouth and Coventry defender is looking forward to the challenge.

He said: "I want to be involved in the big games against the top teams like Barnet and Carlisle - that's who you want to be up against as a manager and I'm sure the players feel the same."

Daish is still to name his assistant manager, although Mike Catlin, who was with Daish at Havant, is likely to form part of his backroom staff.

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