STUNNED officials at Hawick Royal Albert hope to find a replacement manager before the end of this month.

Kevin Milne, who guided the Albert Park club to safety in their first Lowland League campaign last season, resigned from his post yesterday (Wednesday).

The former Aberdeen player sited the struggle to attract new player as his reason.

But the bombshell has left the Albert Park committee scrambling to fill the post.

Club secretary Dougie Purves said: "Kevin's resignation came as a shock to all of us.

"He did well when he came in last season but he has found it difficult to find the calibre of players he was wanting for next season."

Since Milne's sudden departure, several applications for the vacant post have already been submitted.

Mr Purves added: "We have a few people interested and I'm sure we will have a few more enquiries.

"We won't rush into an appointment but, at the same time, we need to have a manager building the team for next season."