BOSS Kenny Vaughan saw George Webb fly the Poppies nest and then conceded the Victoria Park outfit was unable to match the player’s short-term ambitions.

Vaughan pulled off a major coup when he persuaded Webb to join Poppies, the teenager initially dropping into the non-league ranks with Gosport following his release by Cherries 14 months ago.

The 19-year-old this week switched camps when he signed for Poppies’ Wessex League neighbours Hamworthy United, citing a desire to showcase his talents at a higher level as one of his motivating factors.

Free-scoring midfielder Webb completed his move to the County Ground just hours before Poppies leapfrogged Hammers thanks to a 4-1 win over Romsey Town last night.

But despite climbing into fifth place – above Hammers on goal difference – Vaughan is adamant Poppies are still in the early stages of their targeted revival.

Vaughan steadied the ship and steered Poppies to safety in his first year at Victoria Park before leading them to fourth last season, their highest finish since 1995. And only Willand Rovers stand between Poppies and their best run in the FA Vase, with Vaughan’s troops meeting the Western League Premier Division leaders in a third round tie on Saturday.

Vaughan told the Daily Echo: “We were lucky to have Webby for as long as we did. He is an infectious character, a great all-rounder and will be sorely missed by everyone at Poppies.

“He felt it was time to move on and felt Hamworthy had the ambition to reach the Southern League. He thinks they are in with a good chance of getting second place and have the facilities to take the step up.

“He was on AFC Bournemouth’s books not so long ago and is hoping to fast-track his way back to a higher level of football. Maybe he felt things weren’t happening quickly enough here. He said he enjoyed it and he could be our loss and their gain.

“We are building slowly and are maybe a season or two away from that sort of ambition. We are doing okay but we always said it would probably take three to four years to get to where we want to. We survived a couple of years ago and have pushed on since then.”

Poppies were forced to come from behind to see off a spirited Romsey at Victoria Park after Alex Easton had given the visitors a 40th-minute lead.

And Vaughan’s men left it late to cancel out Easton’s effort with a glancing header from Tom Jeffes restoring parity with only 19 minutes remaining.

However, once Poppies had taken the lead through Jake Rowley after Romsey had squandered possession from the restart, the hosts always looked in control.

Rowley added his second and Poppies’ third from a tight angle four minutes from time before Scott Arnold’s thunderbolt completed the scoring on the stroke of full-time.