New Workington Town director of rugby Les Ashe has vowed never to let his side take to the field under-staffed again.

Ashe says that one of the key roles he will undertake is to ensure the squad is large enough to never repeat this year's problems, where Town took to the field several times without a full subs bench.

Coach Phil Veivers had only 14 men available for the final game of the season at Halifax and Ashe says that cannot happen again.

"It is my job to ensure that there is enough support to the head coach and coaching staff," he said.

"We need to make sure we have enough people on board next year, although I appreciate we can never full account for injuries.

"But certainly we need more forward planning so we never again find ourselves, as a professional club, with not enough names on the team sheet."

Ashe has just joined the Town board this month as they look towards life in League One next season.

And the former Town coach says although relegation was devastating for the club, that they now have a chance to rebuild.

"There will be bigger financial restraints in League One so it will be a huge task to assemble a 28 plus man squad that is capable of competing," added Ashe.

"For West Cumbrian rugby league it is devastating that the two clubs have lost their Championship status.

"But the game in general is struggling. We are at a crossroads where we need to work more closely with the amateur game and also get a product that is sellable to the fans.

"We need to get back to being a family club and get the community on board with a team that is worth supporting and probably locally based.

"This club has always been close to my heart and I am happy to help in any way I can.

"I hope to work closely with the players and the coaching staff and be a bit of a liasion between them and the board.

"With my background in coaching I already know a lot of the lads well so hopefully we can make it work."