CARDIGAN Town manager Seamus Doherty has stepped down just a week after winning the Costcutter Ceredigion League division one title and the Cwpan Goffa Dai ‘Dynamo’ Davies for a second successive year.

Doherty and his men defeated Lampeter Town at the King George to reclaim the league championship, and said that he feels now is the right time to give someone else a shot at the job.

“It’s been very tough physically and mentally, especially over the past couple of months,” revealed Doherty.

“There have been so many demands on my time with managing the first team, and all the other less exciting jobs that go with being a manager, and there has been so much running around.

“I have loved my time with the team and we’ve been fortunate to have had such a successful few seasons.

“I honestly think that what we have managed to pull off this season, with such a hectic run in, has probably been our greatest achievement.

“Football followers locally will say that our team was stronger last year, and on paper that may be true, but what we have done in recent weeks surpasses all we achieved last season, and that is a testament to a fabulous group of footballers.

“The current team have shown a team spirit and togetherness that has been truly outstanding, and to win all those games over such a short time and under so much pressure against the best teams was amazing.”

After cramming in 12 matches in just over a month, Doherty had made the controversial decision to withdraw his team from the Bay Cup, which his team had also won last season.

“I’m not sure how we got through the amount of football that we did, and it has been very tough,” he said.

“This had been forced on to us by the Ceredigion League and I was not happy.

“The prospect of playing another four matches over another short space of time, on top of what we had experienced, was just too much.

“There was a risk to players with injuries, so the best thing would be to pull out.

“A lot of players are shattered and carrying injuries, and they didn’t really fancy another series of matches.”