BOSS Andy Bye believes New Milton Town are beginning to recapture the glory days.

The New Forest outfit have endured a turbulent time over the past 18 months, after financial difficulties led them to relinquish their Southern League status as Lymington & New Milton and drop back down to the Sydenhams Wessex League Premier Division at the start of the 2007/08 campaign.

Manager Ian Robinson stepped down and was followed out of the Fawcett's Field exit door by a string of quality players.

Linnets soon found themselves firmly in the league's drop-zone, after failing to win any of their first 11 encounters, before an impressive late rally kept their Wessex Premier Division status intact.

But Bye, who took the managerial reins in February after former boss Trevor Parker was moved into a director of football role, believes Linnets are now finally putting the dark days behind them.

Bye told the Echo: "We've got two tough games coming up, but we're on the back of three wins now and things aren't panning out too badly.

"We won five out of 10 when we came in last season and before that they had only won six out of 34.

"It was quite a dramatic turnaround and I really feel we've stepped up a notch. We're reeling off a lot of games at the moment, but we're pretty consistent these days.

"Compared to last year, we are having more of our share of the games this time around. Last year when we came in it was more of a defensive strategy to not lose the game, but we now look like a side that can actually go out and win.

"We've definitely moved on now and hopefully we'll keep improving. It's easy to forget where we've come from because it was quite dire at one point."

Previewing Linnets' Premier Division derby against Brockenhurst at Grigg Lane tonight (7.45pm), Bye said: "They're not on the best of runs at the moment with their Vase exit and narrow wins against sides you'd expect them to beat comfortably.

"They lost to Moneyfields 3-0 on Saturday too so it could go either way. They could really try to puts things right and come out all guns blazing, or they could be lacking in confidence.

"If we play like we did in the first half on Saturday, when we looked solid throughout the side, we'll be a match for anyone."

Ryan Long returns to the Linnets squad for tonight's clash against the Badgers.

New Milton Town: (from) Anderson, Wood, Pidgeley, Kenna, Clarke, Grace, Byers, Holland, Woolner, Cox, Burt, Allen, Sampays, K Chengadu, Coleman, Long, Clifton-Moore.