HAMWORTHY United chairman Mark Bartlett will stand down at the end of the current season and believes the club should seek fresh blood to replace him.

The 48-year-old is set to relinquish the role after the final game of his first season in charge due to work commitments but will retain his place on the seven-strong committee at the County Ground.

Bartlett insisted his decision had been made with “a very heavy heart” but that his new job would make it impossible to commit sufficient time to United’s cause.

The outgoing Hammers chief told the Daily Echo: “A change in my day job means I will be travelling a lot more and I do not believe in doing the chairman's role half-heartedly.

“It has been a fairly stressful year with two managers departing but I have still loved every minute of it and am incredibly disappointed not to be finishing the job I started.

“But the ship is steady and nobody is panicking. Everybody dreams of a sugar daddy but there are not that many around and they probably would want to look at a club further up the leagues.

“My advice would be to advertise the role but where any new person would come from, I'm not sure.”

Goals from Dan Smith, Jack Satterley, Kane Daysh and substitute Oliver Clayton sealed a 4-0 win for the Hammers in a blood-and-thunder Sydenhams Wessex League Premier Division clash with Verwood.

Smith jinked past two challenges and curled home the opener after seven minutes.

Both teams created a number of openings in a frantic first half and the visitors hit the crossbar but Hamworthy doubled their lead on 35 minutes when Stefan Penny latched on to a loose ball and forced a low stop from Chris Lynch, only for ex-Verwood striker Satterley to slam home the rebound.

Verwood's Josh Buck was lucky to stay on the pitch on the hour mark when he grabbed and pushed Penny's face during a brief altercation. 

But Penny had the last laugh when he teed up Daysh to power home an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box with 12 minutes to play. 

Clayton then challenged his team-mate for goal of the night with a dipping, swinging half-volley with two minutes left. 

Hammers: Benfield, Walker, Cole (Haysom, 75), Legg, Horlock, Smith, Penny (Brock, 77), Daysh, Satterley, Carr (Clayton, 79), Bayston. 

Potters: Lynch, Evans, Murray (Cleft, 82), McGilchrist (G Richardson, 79), Donachy, S Richardson, Dyer, Brimson, Gajic, Groves (Rutten, 79), Buck. Unused sub: Green.