VETERAN striker Andy Bishop has been put in caretaker charge of National League side Southport until the end of the season following the departure of Dino Maamria.
Maamria, who replaced Paul Carden in November, quit the Sandgrounders last week for “family and travel reasons”.
He oversaw a dramatic upturn in results with Southport winning seven of his first eight games in charge as they climbed out of the relegation zone in the National League.
However, they have won just twice since the turn of the year and his last game at the helm was a 3-3 draw with struggling Welling United last Saturday.
Bishop, 33, joined Southport in August after starting the season with FC Halifax Town and was put in charge for Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Torquay United.
That result left them six points clear of the relegation places and the forward will be assisted by coach Craig Madden and senior player Gary Jones.
After the Torquay game, Bishop said: “The lads have got to start believing in themselves more. We’re looking pretty solid defensively but we’ve got to score more goals.
“We’ve got some good players and we’ve got to show it. They’ve got to roll their sleeves up and dig in for each other. We’ve had a run of six wins in a row and I don’t see why we can’t do that again.
“Getting balls into the box and getting the ball forward quicker is something we’ve worked on. The forwards need more opportunities to score.
“I’m going to take charge with Craig’s experience helping me in training and Gary as a leader on the pitch. The decisions fall to me and I’ll be working as hard as I can to change the fortunes of the team.”
