DUDLEY Town chairman Steve Austin says the club will not be rushing to replace Andy Wyton.

Town were granted permission by the West Midlands League to postpone last Saturday’s scheduled fixture at Ellesmere Rangers after Wyton’s departure along with his assistant Jason Tonk for Midland Alliance neighbours Gornal Athletic, along with a number of Dudley players.

Now Austin says Town’s main emphasis will be on youth, with under-18s managers Neil Evans and Lee Glasby along with under-21s manager Mark Phillips taking charge on an interim basis.

“We are in a position where we have enough points that we won’t be relegated and so we won’t be rushing into appointing a new manager,” said Austin.

“We are, though, taking applications for the post and have received some already, but whoever does take over it will be on the basis that the future of the club is the youth.

“We need to ensure a progression each year of players from our youth system into the first team.

“For now we will be using a mixture of existing players, loan players and players from the youth set-up and we will be fulfilling our fixture at Bilston (on Wednesday).”

Town are due to travel to Malvern Town on Saturday.

l Meanwhile, Lye manager Martin Thomas has insisted there is no pressure on his players despite admitting his table-toppers are not firing on all cylinders.

Thomas was left to rue missed opportunities from his dwindling forward line as they dropped more points when drawing 1-1 against second-from-bottom Wolverhampton Sporting Community on Tuesday after losing 1-0 to Pegasus on Saturday.

Lye have also been hit with the news that striker Kevin Nickle will be out for around a month with a hamstring injury.

Andy Mitchell is sidelined with a knee strain and top marksman Ricky Anslow moved to Chasetown last week.

“The last few games have been a tale of missed opportunities for us,” said Thomas. “Tuesday’s game was disappointing because we could have scored four or five if we had some ice in our veins in front of goal.”

Lye entertain Black Country Rangers on Saturday and Wellington Amateurs on Tuesday.