DUDLEY Town chairman Steve Austin has praised the work being carried out by caretaker boss Ash Horton.

Goalkeeper Horton stepped in to temporarily take charge of the Robins after Andy Allardice stepped down two weeks ago.

Horton oversaw his side's penalty success over Stone Old Alleynians in the JW Hunt Cup last Wednesday before Town put up a spirited showing at leaders Wolverhampton Sporting last Saturday.

Dudley lost the game 2-0 but will be able to take a lot of confidence from the clash.

Austin confirmed the club is still on the look out for a new boss but is in no rush to fill the vacancy due to their belief in Horton.

He said: "We're still looking for applications at this stage and are in no rush at the moment.

"We are very happy with how Ash has done after agreeing to take charge in the short term. We have 100 per cent faith in him until we make a decision on the new manager.

"We'll wait and see what applications we have and assess them properly.

"We did really well against Wolverhampton and even they admitted afterwards that the scoreline didn't reflect how well we did.

"It was goalless at half time and they scored just after the break. That could have signalled a collapse but we did exceptionally well.

"We have then finished the game with five under-18s on pitch, which I'm very proud of."

Town will now welcome Wellington to the Dell Stadium this Saturday (3pm kick-off).