New Eccleshill United head coach Bobby Davison admits his squad remains very much a work in progress, despite an impressive midweek victory.

Davison had overseen a 3-2 away defeat and a 3-1 home loss before his third game ended in a 4-0 triumph over Dinnington Town on Wednesday.

The former Leeds United striker and Bradford City assistant manager was not, however, about to put the flags out.

“It was a positive result but we are a million miles away at the moment,” said Davison.

“I spoke to Mark Ellis, who I am working closely with, and we talked about these young lads needing more work.

“It will be a long slog but everybody is ready for it and we will develop them and it will be good for Eccleshill.”

Many of the players under Davison are from Richmond International Academic and Soccer Academy (RIASA), for whom Ellis is football director.

The vast majority of those are from the USA and, with many of them back home for the holiday period, plus the recent bad weather, momentum and continuity has been hard to establish.

Even with a mix of local players at the club, the boss has not had enough of a squad to pick a balanced side. Davison said: “Over the last few weeks, most of the Americans had gone home and the English lads were working, so we were short of numbers.

“The pitch has been hammered by the bad weather and that led to problems training and matches postponed.

“The American lads train on Astroturf most of the time and when they get on these pitches they find it difficult.

“It is not helping them to play the fast, flowing football that they are used to and we want to encourage, so it is a learning curve.

“But they have the talent and have come here to learn the game properly, so we will get there in the end.”