Foxes chairman backs his boss.

AS ILFORD manager Colin Walton celebrates a year in charge at Cricklefield, chairman Roger Chilvers has given his full support to the under-fire Foxes boss.

Walton’s side have won just three times in the league this season and find themselves 20th in the Ryman League Division One North and in the midst of a relegation battle.

The Ilford boss’ first game in charge was a 1-1 draw at home to Romford on Boxing Day 2009 and as Walton prepares to lead his team out against the same opponents for the next fixture on December 27, he does so with Chilvers right behind him.

“Roger’s given me his backing,” said Walton.

“I’ve known Roger for a while now, we have a good relationship off the field.

“He realises we’re quite a promising outfit and we work on a small budget. We’ve just not quite had that spark of luck yet this season. I can’t remember any luck in about 25 games that we’ve played so far.

“I took charge of my first game, ironically against Romford on Boxing Day last year in a 1-1 draw.

“They’re much stronger this season of course. They’re in an excellent position in the league and don’t let many in.

“We could have a bit of a stalemate, we’d be quite happy getting anything out of the game. We haven’t played much lately, a few weeks ago I spoke about a winter-break and the weather has dictated that we’ve had that.

“The players have the week off, a lot of the schools have closed, so there’s been a bit of an enforced break, but that might have a positive affect as we tend to do well when we’ve not been able to train.”

With his future at Cricklefield now secured in the short term, Walton has wasted no time adding to his squad.

The Foxes have shipped 39 goals in 19 league games this season, but the Ilford boss hopes the signing of 18-year-old defender Arthur Lee, on work experience from Peterborough, will help plug the gap.

“He’s played for their reserve side, so comes with a decent pedigree,” said Walton.

“I had a chat with the youth coach David Oldfield and he felt he needed some more senior football and normally these things are indefinite, so we should have him for the season, it will depend on what Peterborough want to do.

“He’s a left-back come centre-back and likely to make his debut in our home game against Great Wakering Rovers.

“We have a bit of a vacancy in that position. Anton Trice has work commitments and isn’t always available, so I felt there was space in the squad for someone there.

“It’s the first time we’ve signed someone on one of these agreements, it’s something we might look to do again in the future. We only have to pay his expenses when he comes down from Peterborough, so it works well for us.”