AFTER spending last season trying in vain to convince son Keelan to quit Coates and join his PSV side, Richard Whitwell decided there was only one solution to his problem.

So like Muhammad going to the mountain, Whitwell decided the only way he could unite the family footballing fortunes was to join Coates as their new manager.

And after dropping down to take the reins of the Division Three outfit, Whitwell and son seem to be doing rather nicely having picked up their second win of the season after a 7-2 result against Baston.

A second hat-trick in a row for Jake Powell and a quickfire treble for substitute Ryan Corr made up the bulk of the scoreline with former PSV player Arif Quaddus also on target.

Whitwell said: "Keelan loves playing with his mates from Sir Harry Smith school as a lot of them have been together since the days of Whittlesey Wolves back in the Under 8s.

"No matter what I said about leaving he wouldn't budge so when I got the opportunity to take over as manager after Peter Ward stepped down I decided to take it. They are a great bunch of lads and I love working with them.

"So far they are going great guns. We are up to fourth in the league and I am not regretting my decision one little bit. I know Baston were understrength but we can only beat what is in front of us and we did that."

For Baston the start to the season has been slightly less serene.

After their beating against Whitwell's Coates on Sunday the Lincolnshire lads are officially a team in crisis.

Having stepped into the void left by former manager John Shayler, new boss Rod Castle was powerless to prevent this latest reverse having been left with just nine players at his disposal.

And while those players which remain are all of a good quality – Eddie Clarke and Ben Sallis both scored against Coates – as Castle admitted after the game, the numbers just don't add up at Baston this season.

He said: "We really need some new players, it is as simple as that. With a couple more lads I have a side here which can really challenge in this division.

"We even went 1-0 up against Coates but you can't expect to get anything against a decent team without enough players."