PAUL West is determined to repay the faith shown by Evesham United's committee following his managerial appointment.

West admits he was "honoured" to be offered the Common Road hot-seat on a permanent basis, just four weeks after taking temporary charge.

"I'm delighted that they feel I'm the right person for the job," admits West. "I'm honoured that they want me to be manager.

"I think, from their point of view, they've seen the way I've done things over the last three weeks and how I've gone about the job. I've been working day by day to stabilise things.

"Management has always interested me. I've picked up a lot of good experience from John Rudge, Frank Stapleton and Jimmy Harvey during my playing career, and from managers at Evesham such as Chris Robinson, Micky Brennan and, of course, Dave Busst.

"It's not the way I wanted the job, but then again they don't always come around presented with a ribbon."

West was assistant to Busst for two-and-a-half years until United's board sacked the former Coventry City defender last month over poor results.

The 36-year-old now faces a mammoth task keeping the Robins afloat in the Southern Premier League with nine games remaining.

Languishing in the relegation zone, eight points adrift of safety, United are without a victory in nine attempts.

West added: "It's a massive job here and I will treat it with the utmost respect. I'm well aware of the difficulties facing me. We must aim for as many wins as possible."

United welcome back leading scorer Richard Ball for tomorrow's must-win home clash with Hitchin Town (3pm).

Ball has scored 16 league goals this term, but missed United's last three games through suspension. West has added former Tamworth attacking midfielder Chad Sheppard to his squad.