LYMINGTON and New Milton finally put an end to their miserable run as they grabbed victory at the 11th time of asking with a 2-1 success over Ashford Town.

Their 10-game winless run was put to bed at long last as first-half strikes from Kevin James and James Stokoe cancelled out Joby Thorogood's seventh-minute opener for the visitors.

Assistant boss Richie Phippard said: "There was a lot of relief afterwards because nobody wants to be on the sort of run we were on.

"It was an edgy performance but we ground it out. Hopefully now that will give us that bit of confidence that we have been missing."

Linnets' defence was bolstered by the addition of former Hamworthy United centre-back Steve Gilbert who made an impressive debut, despite insisting he wanted to stay at Hamworthy two weeks ago.

Phippard said: "We have kept tabs on him since then and he came to us and said 'I want to play'.

" I don't know what has happened at Hamworthy but he is a very good player."

Hammers boss Alex Pike, however, is fuming that he was not told that his defender has now apparently decided to pledge his allegiance elsewhere.

Pike said: "I've had no contact with the player or with the Lymington and New Milton manager.

"I heard he'd played for them but it was news to me."

"You would have thought someone might have had the decency to pick up the phone to let me know - especially as the player works for me.

"I also thought Ian Robinson was a friend and I have an issue with how they have gone about this. In fact, I'm very angry.

"But he is under pressure, the team is struggling and maybe they are behaving in a different way than they normally would because of that."

While Gilbert has apparently been recruited, Stuart Hussey and Richard Gregory have gone back to Wessex League football with AFC Totton and Christchurch respectively.

Phippard said: "They both felt they were not getting enough games and they want to play. But we have parted on amicable terms."

Lymington and New Milton: Watson, Wilson, Gilbert, Powell, Lang, James (Mulhern, 55), Woods, Clothier (T Smith, 70), P Smith, Chudy (Hogan, 55), Stokoe. Unused subs: Hookway, C Smith.