Tony Cross has resigned as manager of Ryman Two Tilbury after less than three years in charge.

Reserve team manager Bill McMeekin took over for the weekend's surprise victory at Marlow and is likely to fill the role in a caretaker capacity until the season's end.

Cross had been under some pressure following a run of six consecutive defeats, which only ended last Tuesday with a 3-2 victory over bottom-of-the-table Romford.

He had recently expressed some concern as to whether the club could afford the quality of players to make them competitive in one of next season's regionalised Division Ones. Cross said that he had already been asked to cut the budget.

"I really didn't want to go, but there's a lot of 'politics' going on at the club and I also felt I had no choice once my ability as a manager had been called into question," explained Cross.

"But I am gobsmacked that I am no longer Tilbury's manager. We had gone through a bad run, but as Saturday proved, we had turned it around and I believed we could have gone on and finished in the top eight in the division.

"I can hold my head up and say I've left the club in a better state than when I arrived."

Club secretary Lloyd Brown added: "His decision to leave hasn't come as a total surprise because he has not been too happy of late."

Cross arrived at St Chad's after taking Bowers United to the Essex Senior League title and made an immediate impact by taking Tilbury out of the bottom Ryman division.

Dockers also equalled their best run in the FA Vase, reaching the fourth round. This was followed by a solid first campaign in Division Two in which they finished tenth -- a position the club holds at the moment.

Published Tuesday, February 19, 2002