CHAIRMAN Lee Harding said he had no hesitation in offering the Braintree Town manager's position to captain Jake Hutchings.

Hutchings has stepped up to take the Iron helm as player/manager after the surprise departure of Glen Driver last week.

It was the Braintree skipper who, together with Josh Urquhart, took charge of training on the day of Driver's departure and prepared the team for their Vanarama National League South trip to Hemel Hempstead last weekend.

As well as already having been impressed by him as a player and an individual, Harding said he had been pleased to see how Hutchings rose to the challenge and how the Iron players responded to his leadership in engineering a 3-0 win with one of their best performances of the season.

So the chairman had no qualms in elevating him to become manager.

He said: "We spoke long and hard about it among ourselves and the way the lads responded so positively left us thinking this was a good move.

“Jake has been a great servant to the club since he has come in.

“He’s been a great first-team captain and got us superbly organised for the game at Hemel Hempstead.

“He comes across very well and he knows what he wants.

“I can see that he will get the respect that he deserves in the dressing room.

"We all know there will be hiccups along the way; for every 3-0 win at Hemel Hempstead there can be a Hungerford, but Jake has done so well for us.

"He's been an ever-present, never missed a game and there is a stoic determination about him that I really like.

"I've said there are three things that we want from Jake: to enjoy it, to help us consolidate and help us plan for the future.

"We are in a stable position, we don't owe anyone anything, our feet are firmly on the floor and we have a game plan so I think things are looking good with the mix of enthusiasm and drive that Jake will bring."

The new man's first game in charge will come with a trip to Welling United on Saturday as the Iron look to follow up on their success at Hemel Hempstead.

With Hutchings having no prior managerial experience, though, the club have also acted to bring in their former boss George Borg to work alongside him as first-team coach.

Borg led the club to the Isthmian League play-offs, the Isthmian League title and then Conference South play-offs in three successive seasons between 2005

and 2007 and having him on board means Harding is not concerned by Hutchings’ lack of previous managerial experience.

“We have had experienced managers here and inexperienced managers so there’s no worry at all,” added the Iron chairman.

“Jake has respect from the players and you could see how they responded on Saturday.

“I don’t think it is broken here at Braintree and we don’t need to fix it.

“These players can look after us.

“We've got some help in for Jake as he can’t do everything – being first-team captain, manager, coach, dealing with the press and such like – so we've helped him out with bringing George in.

“But Jake is very keen.

“He has enjoyed it so far and he will learn quickly.

“I’m sure there will be times when the fans give him some flack, but I know they will back him as they will want him to do well.

“We now have another game to go and win at Welling on Saturday and I feel very upbeat about it all.”