HUNTINGDON Town chairman Paul Hunt believes he has the best manager he could ask for outside of the Football League after Ricky Marheineke was named the UCL Premier Division’s top boss for February.

The Huntingdon manager, who freely admits he is still learning the role in his second full season in charge of the Jubilee Park club, guided his team to five wins out of six league games during the month, with the other a draw against third-placed Spalding Town, no mean feat itself.

On Saturday, the team played its fourth game in eight days and began March with a dramatic 2-2 draw at Long Buckby in Northamptonshire.

“Ricky is a young and ambitious manager who is highly qualified and able to manage at any level,” said Hunt.

“He is born and bred in Huntingdon and although we would never stand in his way, other clubs have no chance of recruiting Ricky as he has the red blood of Huntingdon Town running through his veins.

“The club’s success is down to Ricky and the fantastic management team that we have pulled together over the last two years.”

Ted Dear, older brother of the team’s captain Ricky Dear, was recently recruited to be Marheineke’s assistant, and Hunt is hoping this is the management team – with coach Paul Swannell – that will bring him further success and the second promotion that he craves.

The club were crowned United Counties League Division One champions last season, that was dramatic enough, but it is the promised land of the Southern League that the chairman has set his sights on.

That might be a stretch this time around – Huntingdon are sixth but a quite a way behind leaders Holbeach United and second-placed St Ives Town – but next season? Why not? The ambition is there, even if the club is finding it tough to build a solid fan base.

The budget is certainly smaller than most of the top teams in the division, but Marheineke clearly has the knack when it comes to finding the right players for the job in hand. Jamie Graham, the experienced striker for example, joined the club this season when goals were hard to come by and he hasn’t stopped scoring since.

“We are still in the building stages but we are on target for our aim of two promotions within the first five years,” said Hunt.

“The exciting and attacking football that Ricky has brought to the club is a spectacle to watch and I’m delighted that this type of football has spread throughout the entire club, not just the first team.

“This is down to the hard work that all of the managers put into their preparation and planning.”

HUNTINGDON Town began March with a 2-2 draw at Long Buckby – but February’s UCL Premier manager of the month Ricky Marheineke wasn’t happy with the performance of the referee, a feeling shared by his counterpart Scott Goodwin.

Huntingdon were without key players for their fourth game in eight days, including captain Ricky Dear who was unavailable because of work commitments.

But they took an early lead in Northamptonshire with the prolific Jamie Graham heading home a Ben Seymour-Shove cross.

However, in the second half things took a turn for the worse and Buckby were 2-1 up when Huntingdon were awarded a penalty which Declan Rogers hammered home.

It was a penalty that even Marheineke admitted shouldn’t have been given – and shortly afterwards, the Huntingdon manager was ‘sent to the stands’ when stand-in midfielder Ollie Medwynter was

shown the red card. Goodwin joined him.

“We had no recognised central midfield players and Ollie Medwynter played that role and did a really good job,” said Marheineke.

“With five players missing it was always going to be difficult but credit to the lads again for sticking together and still managing to dig out a result.

“All you ask of a referee is that he gets a percentage of the big decisions right. He got all of them wrong.

“Their first goal came from a free kick that never was, their second was from a free kick that should have been awarded to us. Our second goal was from a penalty that shouldn’t have been awarded. Then he sent off Ollie with 12 minutes to go for a really good tackle.”

On Twitter, on Saturday night, the Buckby manager agreed: “Never a sending off. I’ve always said I can coach players but not officials.”

Huntingdon: Enol Ordonez, Dan Moyes, Ryan Spencer, Josh Crick (Ashley Yeomans), Charlie De’ath, Ollie Medwynter, Ben Seymour-Shove, Declan Rogers, Jamie Graham, Dan Drane (Ben Sawyer), Stuart Eason (Niks Savalneiks).HUNTINGDON Town began March with a 2-2 draw at Long Buckby – but February’s UCL Premier manager of the month Ricky Marheineke wasn’t happy with the performance of the referee, a feeling shared by his counterpart Scott Goodwin.

Huntingdon were without key players for their fourth game in eight days, including captain Ricky Dear who was unavailable because of work commitments.

But they took an early lead in Northamptonshire with the prolific Jamie Graham heading home a Ben Seymour-Shove cross.

However, in the second half things took a turn for the worse and Buckby were 2-1 up when Huntingdon were awarded a penalty which Declan Rogers hammered home.

It was a penalty that even Marheineke admitted shouldn’t have been given – and shortly afterwards, the Huntingdon manager was ‘sent to the stands’ when stand-in midfielder Ollie Medwynter was

shown the red card. Goodwin joined him.

“We had no recognised central midfield players and Ollie Medwynter played that role and did a really good job,” said Marheineke.

“With five players missing it was always going to be difficult but credit to the lads again for sticking together and still managing to dig out a result.

“All you ask of a referee is that he gets a percentage of the big decisions right. He got all of them wrong.

“Their first goal came from a free kick that never was, their second was from a free kick that should have been awarded to us. Our second goal was from a penalty that shouldn’t have been awarded. Then he sent off Ollie with 12 minutes to go for a really good tackle.”

On Twitter, on Saturday night, the Buckby manager agreed: “Never a sending off. I’ve always said I can coach players but not officials.”

Huntingdon: Enol Ordonez, Dan Moyes, Ryan Spencer, Josh Crick (Ashley Yeomans), Charlie De’ath, Ollie Medwynter, Ben Seymour-Shove, Declan Rogers, Jamie Graham, Dan Drane (Ben Sawyer), Stuart Eason (Niks Savalneiks).