NEWENT Town have entered a team into the Hellenic League – but the back-to-back Reg Davis Cup winners won’t resign from the Northern Senior League as a result.

Instead, the club’s successful youth players will be split across two teams to allow them a chance to play football at a testing standard, with one in the Hellenic League Division Two West.

“We’ve got our first team still in the Northern Senior One,” confirmed club secretary Phil Clarke.

“But we’ve also got a very good youth team that won the Cheltenham Youth League’s top division last year as Under-15s and then this year they won it as Under-16s.

“So we’ve got a big group of players, some of whom have played for the first team already.

“There are 12 or 13 young players that need to play at a decent standard. We’ve lost a few, one who’s gone to Taverners Under-18s, another to Forest Green Rovers and another picked up by an academy.

“But the rest are staying, so we’ll hae a team in the Hellenic League but also keep our first team currently in the Northern Senior League.

“We’ll probably mix the teams up we’ve had quite a bit of interest already.”

Newent welcomed Hellenic League inspectors to their Wildsmith Meadow home in Malswick recently and Clarke said they were ’very impressed’ by what they saw and allowed Town’s entry to Division Two West.

The club are on the search for a new manager for their Northern Senior League side. Anyone interested in managing the team should contact Phil Clarke on 07903 965844.